Higurashi: Passion Breaks Curse
by InnocuousShark36
Summary: An interesting phenomenon has occured. Though will it be enough to prevent these unstoppable events from happening? In an unexpected turn of events, Keiichi and Hanyuu are working together, and are to figure out this odd bond that ties fate together. Their journey goes through a good half of mishaps and enjoyable moments, to figure out who or what is responsible for these murders.
1. Chapter 1, Reborn Hope

_**Chapter 1**_

_**Reborn Hope**_

**A/N. Alright, so I've never made a story about something like Higurashi, but damnit I just love the show and fan content (and yes some fanfics). So I wanted to come up with a story that would be interesting (Hopefully).**

_No more can we stand to watch as this village is doomed by a curse of an unforgiving soul. No more shall we let this spirit linger onto the innocent who thrive. But no longer can we continue on, as we have been embraced by the spirit itself. In my last breath, I pass a part of this spirit to you, Keiichi Maebara. May you protect our goddess with your will and courage...may you bring the light that this dark, cruel path needs...let this next Hinamizawa be their's, and your last..._

* * *

Keiichi woke up in a shock, sweating and panting as he lay upright on his futon. From what he thought as a nightmare, he had now woken up into the real world. Well by that, his bedroom at least. He held his head, running his fingers into his hair as he attempted to process through his mind what had recurred. "Jeez, what kind of dream was that?" He asked to himself. Of course it was something he didn't even know the answer to at the moment. So instead, he shook it off as just a weird dream. He looked around his bedroom, calming himself down as he got up from the futon and went over to his window. He opened it up, peering outside.

Hinamizawa, such a peaceful place that he and his family moved to weeks ago after well, that incident. It seemed like a new change, and a fresh start for him to make new friends and make this place home. Hell, It would be any surprise that things like curses and deaths had even occurred here. It was one of those good days too, a bright day out with the birds tweeting around, the sun bright with it's rays shining on the village. He peered over to look at the clock to see what time it was. Apparently it was already 7:30AM. He sighed to himself as he closed the window, wandering over to his door to exit the room. He could already seem to smell the delicious scent of breakfast from where he was. "I wonder what mom must be making right now, Smells real good" He thought to himself as he opened the door.

Before he took another step however, he suddenly felt a strange feeling, something odd from inside of him. It felt weird to say the least, almost like it was in his soul or something strange like that. "Or maybe I'm just super hungry. Yeah, that's it." Considering this as a valid reason, he rushed downstairs, wandering down into the living room and going straight into the kitchen. On the table was breakfast; iso soup, grilled fish, some pickled vegetables and a small salad, a typical balanced breakfast in Japan. He was eager to get into the delicious food in front of him as he sat down at the table.

His mother came in, a sweet smile on her face as she greeted him, "Morning Keiichi. Slept well I see?" He thought about his answer a bit before he said anything. "Did I?" he asked himself. Last he remembered, we woke up a sweating mess from an odd dream he was having. He shook it off anyhow with a simple reply to her. "Yeah I guess so." As he dug into the food.

* * *

As he left his house, Keiichi went on ahead to school as he usually did. He was wearing his usual school wear, a white collared-shirt over a red t-shirt, black pants, a belt and black shoes. He went onto the usual path that he took to school. Well to be more precise, the path where he met Rena about halfway to walk to school together, considering she's always waiting for him. Not that it's creepy or anything, it's just Rena stuff after all, and she did care about him, even if it was in an odd way. To be fair, Rena was the type of person to seem weird at first glance. I mean just look at all of the junk and such she thought was cute, never mind that colonel statue. At this point, she'd probably find a corpse adorable. Well...hopefully not.

Though as he thought to himself these ridiculous remarks, he looked over to where Rena was usually waiting for him. But there was something odd...something out of place to him. Rena wasn't there at all. "Huh, That's odd..." He thought to himself, "She's never 'not' here. Is she late? Or maybe for once she took my advice and slept in? Heh, yeah right." Keiichi stood there a bit, almost dumbstruck as he rubbed his chin.

The worst case scenario would be that Mion had a mischievous little plan, and had her and the others with her to make something terrible up to use on him later in a club game. He shuddered at the thought of that, They'd better not. Even so, he'd make sure to beat them for sure. Or maybe that's not even the case. Maybe instead she was hiding in the bushes, ready to scare him. Well ok, that wouldn't be true. Because first off she wasn't that type of person to him, and second she'd just look too cute to be scared of. Give her a butcher's knife and she'd be even more funnier looking.

For today, it seemed like he had to go on without her. Not a big deal but whatever. As he continued on his journey to school however, his luck just turns out even worse than before. He had completely forgotten that there was road work being done onto the path, something to do with making repairs or something. This could probably explain the absence of the ginger not waiting here in the first place, though it didn't give her any good reason not to be here if so. He thought to himself of how else he was supposed to get to school.

He stood there for a while until he noticed a second path, one that he and Rena never took. It lead through what looked like a part of the woods, and probably took longer to get to the branch school, which explained why they don't use it. But he does indeed remember that the only person he knew who took that path was Rika, though he didn't know why. Either way, It seemed he had no other choice but to take this 'detour' onto this path leading through the forest.

* * *

The sound of cicadas could be heard throughout the forest as he continued walking through. He could tell he was already late, sighing to himself as to imagine the scolding he will get from Mion. He thought to himself all of the annoying things he could think of her saying. Remarks, teasing, snarky comments. The thought of them made him grind his teeth in annoyance over how much of a pain it'll be to experience it. Though on the other hand, it actually seemed nice to take this path for once, it really did bring out the peaceful look of the village after all. In-fact, it gave him a comfortable, relaxed feeling. It was no wonder why Rika probably took it occasionally. Hell, maybe he should take it more often and tease Rena that he's abandoned her just to see her cute reactions. At this thought, he grinned with malicious intent, "Heheh, Yeah, that's a great idea Keiichi." He thought to himself as he rubbed his hands together maliciously

"~Hmm, hmm, hmm~"

"Eh?" At the moment, he heard the voice of a little girl humming nearby. It was calm and had a smooth rhythm to it. But that wasn't what caught most of his attention, it was the sound of the girl's voice, It sounds familiar to him. He looked over to where the noise was coming from, seeing a figure crouched at the grass looking at flowers as they waved their hand over them, gently petting them with their small finger. He went over to the figure to get a closer look at her. With a better chance to look at her, he was intrigued in how her appearance seemed unique. For instance, She was wearing to what seemed to him a shrine maiden outfit, with red long, split trousers, a white kimono jacket, and a pair of long, pink _furisode_-like sleeves. She also had long, violet hair. At first he could have almost mistaken this girl for Rika with her small size, mixed with a weird sense of calm around her.

In fact, Keiichi couldn't help but get a feeling that her appearance reminded her of Rika for a second, with their hair and the cute sounds that is. But before he was able to say or do anything else, the girl he was somewhat entranced by turned around, looking straight at him with curiosity in her eyes as he got a better look at her. She had purple, glistering eyes that you could daze into with their own beauty. They matched quite well with her hair and...horns!? This girl had dark purple horns on her head! (though he took note that the left side was slightly chipped). But still. Horns! Yep, this was it. Keiichi was fully dumbstruck in amazement. He was seeing a little girl, with demon horns, on her head.

The little girl in front of the stunned boy then spoke with a smooth voice, giving a bright smile, "Ah, it's only Keiichi. he must be looking at these lovely flowers." She giggled to herself a bit, turning back her attention onto said flowers.

Keiichi stood there, shook by what he had just heard from her. What did she just say? Did she just ignore his presence? She acted as if he couldn't see her or something. As if she was a ghost. But wait a moment...how does she even know his name? And...why did she act like she wasn't there to him? He gave a bit of a glance at her, and asked her, "H-How do you know my name...?"

She suddenly stopped humming, soon realising what he just said. as she turned to look at him, the girl's face had turned to a pale, shocked expression, falling back a bit as she kept her gaze right at him. He too himself must have been surprised at her reaction, he somewhat had the feeling of goosebumps on his skin. "Y-You can s-see me?" She asked, stuttering at her words. Now Keiichi was not just freaked out by the weird horn-girl, but completely curious as to what she was saying to him. It was just one question he had in particular to ask..."Yeah, I can." He decided to answer her first. "But, who are you?" he asked her. He waited patiently for her to compose herself before saying anything else.

"How is this possible?" She thought to herself, "This has never happened before. Only Rika can communicate with me, no one else can. Could this mean..." Of course, she was just pulling at strings, but this was just so unique to her. The fact that Keiichi, some mortal, was talking to her, a spiritual god. She calmed herself down, as she then answered, "I suppose that since you can see me, it's only fair that I tell you who I am." Keiichi nodded in agreement, obviously adamant into wanting to know who this stranger was. "My name is Hanyuu Furude."

Wait a moment, hold the phone! Was he hearing something wrong? Was his ears blocked? Or did he **just** hear that she's some relative of Rika!? Now he knew why this girl indeed remind Keiichi of Rika so much.

"Hold on a moment" he quickly said, stopping her there. "You're telling me that you're Rika's cousin or something?"

She stood there twiddling her thumbs, almost as if embarrassed. "Au Au...well not really. I'm more like her 1000 year old ancestor."

"Whaaaa!? Ancestor!?" That was all he could do to reply with from hearing those exact words. "B-But y-you're...you know, young! How on earth can you be her ancestor or something!? You should be dead then! Unless.." He stopped there, he already knew where this was leading to. "Oh I get it, this is a joke. There's no way you're that old." He retorted, a smirk on his face. "I'm not that gullible you know, unless you **do **have proof that you're a ghost or something."

Hanyuu gave a soft sigh to herself, as she put her hands together and stood in one place. Keiichi kept looking, confused as to what she was attempting to do at the moment. Was she gonna use some sort of ritualistic spell or something? Hell he didn't know. Or maybe she was trying to fool him again? Who knows. Instead, she made herself translucent, almost like a ghost to be exact as you would see on TV. Immediately, he was amazed, yet at the same time shocked at what just transpired in front of him. She then spoke to him, "That's because I've been dead for over 1000 years. Practically, I am a ghost"

Now it was his turn to compose himself before he said anything else. But what was in front of him and just told to him at the moment, is that this girl name Hanyuu is a 1000 year old ghost and past relative of his friend Rika Furude. Hell, Missing arms and crazy people probably couldn't even come close to what this was at this point. "S-Sorry for mocking you!" He apologised, throwing himself down as he bowed apologetically to her. The last thing he wanted was a curse. Hanyuu let out a small laugh, "It's alright" She said to him, "I wouldn't expect you to believe something like that immediately.

He stood back up, sighing in relief at her forgiveness. She was so cute, like Rika, but...much more cute. He shook out the malicious thought in his head, as he continued on with his questions. "So, are you a spirit that looks over Rika or something?" He asked, uncertain.

"Well in a way, yes" She replied.

"Huh, then I guess you're also the spirit that curses people and kills them? Oyashiro-sama was it? Pretty cruel you know."

At this reaction, the little spirit looked as if she was hurt from those words, turning her face into a puffed-cheek blush at him as she flailed her arms around. "Auu, Auu! Don't say it like that! I would never do those things!"

He flinched back, surprised at her reaction. "Welp, you did it now Keiichi, you pissed off a loli spirit" the brunette thought to himself. Though he had to admit, her reaction was just...adorable. Perhaps he had a new target for punishment games. Again, he shook off the thoughts for the moment as he attempted to diffuse the situation, putting his hands up defensively. "Hey now I didn't mean it like that, I was only joking. Besides I doubt someone like you would do things like that, right?" She calmed down, though she still had a noticeable light blush. He wiped the sweat off his brow, sighing in relief. For a second there, he though he was going to be the next sacrifice or something.

For a moment though, he thought to himself about Rika. If it was true that this spirit stuck around with her, then where was she right now? He looked around him, curious as to where the blue-haired girl was at. "So uh, where's Rika?" He asked her casually.

Hanyuu briefly didn't answer him, a look of uncertainty, before replying, "S-She's sick today, so she wont be in. That's why I wandered a bit by myself today."

"Huh? Really? I've never known her to be sick." Which was exactly true. Almost every time, Rika was there at school with him and the others, playing their games and making all sorts of mischief, with her calming presence and moe voice. For her to be ill was one of the rarest sights ever. Though while Keiichi thought this, Hanyuu knew the real answer that she was keeping from him...

But for now, Keiichi had another question that he wanted answered right now. "Alright then, so if you follow around with Rika or something like that, then does that mean you're like...apart of her or something like that?"

Hanyuu answered the question easily, "Of course, wherever she is I can sense her there. That is how strong our bond is." Alright, now this was getting interesting to him. So all this time, Rika has had this somewhat of a spirit by her side, and not a single person even knows of this, let alone if she's even told anyone, or just kept this secret. Well, except him now of course. It was just so odd that someone like Rika would be keeping a secret of talking to somewhat of a God of Hinamizawa. Suddenly, Hanyuu was right in front of him, in fact oddly close to his chest with her own curious look. He looked at her with confusion and unease for a moment, just what was she going to do now?

She was wondering something to herself as she looked up at him. "If he can see her, does that mean that maybe he...Well there was only one way to find out." She thought to herself, raising a hand to his chest, hesitant to touch him. He somewhat blushed, unable to process what was even going on, let alone what she was thinking of doing to him. "Now it's my turn for answers" She said immediately, touching his chest before he could even say anything against it.

All of a sudden the two of them got an unusual spark from the inside of them that bolted, both flinching back from each other, the exception of Keiichi falling to the ground, barely catching himself with his hands behind his back. For a moment, it tickled them both, a tingling feeling in their heads and hearts. Something just happened, something remarkable yet not understandable. Keiichi had no idea what had just occurred, but was the first to ask, "W-What the hell was that!? Did you feel it too?"

Hanyuu looked at him, then back down to her hand. Even she didn't understand what happened. But then she realised, this was a similar feeling she had once shared with Rika herself, though how it's happened with someone else was now...odd. She then said to him, "Y-Yes...I did. This feeling, it's odd."

Keiichi touched where she last put her hand on his chest, still having that unusual feeling he had gotten as she had at the moment. "Y-Yeah, it's almost like..."

They looked at each other, both of them in unison spoke, "We're bonded?"

She rubbed her head, trying to think of how this could possibly be true. Then she had an idea. Without saying anything, she began to hover off of her feet, as if she could fly. Keiichi just looked in astonishment. "She can fly too!? What other crazy powers does she have" He thought to himself. All of a sudden, she dissipated out of his sight. "Wha!?", She had just disappeared, completely gone! He looked around in a panic, trying to find where the little spirit had gone to. "Where the hell could she have gone?" He said out loud to himself, as he stood back up.

"Don't worry, I'm still here"

He jumped at the reply he was suddenly given out of nowhere. That was definitely her voice, but it came from...inside his head? She then reappeared in front of the dumbfound boy, as he looked back to her in awe. She was intrigued herself, in fact interested "It's true...you somehow have a spirit soul that connects us." She said.

He gave her a confused look, since he had no idea what she said just then. "A...spirit soul?" He asked.

She nodded, replying to his question, "That's right, a spirit soul. It's what keeps me and Rika together, and it's what's binding us two together as well. It's also why Rika can only see me. Though for some reason you have one as well, similar yet different. This has never happened in other worlds..."

"Other worlds?" He asked.

She quickly covered her mouth with her hands from what she blurted out, "It's nothing important."

He gave her a curious look, one that knew she was hiding something suspicious. Instead though, he decided to leave it for now since he had other important things to think about, like school and how late he was...wait a moment.

"Oh crap! I just realised I'm late for school!" He had been standing here for so long talking to this spirit, that he hadn't realised that he was wasting time. Though the sight and existence of Hanyuu was cool and all, being tardy wasn't. Keiichi was about to go running straight off into the direction of the school, until he suddenly stopped. He almost forgot, what about Hanyuu? How and when was he going to deal with this? What was she going to do now? He looked at her and asked her, "Um, wanna come with me? I mean, it could be boring but-" Without a second thought, she nodded, disappearing to where he guessed was in his head or something.

He shrugged casually, answering the question to himself as he continued the journey to school, running as fast as he could. Meanwhile, Hanyuu was thinking to herself, as she watched the boy's journey. "This is such a new experience." She thought, "Keiichi Maebara, able to bond with me through an unknown spirit...maybe this could be the world we've been looking for, or maybe it wont. Either way for now, the best way to be sure is to learn more about him. Don't worry Rika, maybe this time...maybe..."

* * *

**End of Chapter 1**

**Apologies if the chapter seemed short, but it was pretty much a prologue or such of how it's starting off as.**

**For the second chapter will be of course seeing more of the other characters and such.  
**

**Hope you enjoyed and have a good day/night.**


	2. Chapter 2, Imaginary Friend

**_Chapter 2_**

_**Imaginary Friend**_

Making his way to school, Keiichi couldn't help but to continue rehearsing what he had just experienced moments ago, and in a matter of minutes at that. Hanyuu, a thousand year old Spirit, a bond, this was all insane to a normal person. But at this point, he experienced every minute of it, so there was no point in trying to deny what he saw and heard wasn't true. Though he wanted to know more, he'd have to question this spirit later, since he had other troubles. For one, he's late to school. The other, well you can already guess...his would have gotten there much quicker if he had taken his bike with him. Unfortunately, he had to leave it at school yesterday because yet again, he got a punishment game, one that he would rather not remember the details of.

"At this point I should keep track of how many I get..." He though to himself as he continued his way. Though he wondered something; since Hanyuu's in his head or something, does that mean she can see everything _he's_ thinking? For now he'd ask later, and also keep any naughty thoughts out of his head, else he wanted to corrupt this innocent loli spirit.

Finally, he had arrived. Hinamizawa Branch School, or how he liked to think of it; one of Japan's smallest schools. Though he'd make fun of that fact, in a way that was the school's charm here in this village. He made his way into the building, taking his shoes off at the front opening, then continued to the classroom door. He looked at the clock on the wall to check how late he was. "Well then, five minutes", he read out. Not as late as he thought but either way it was still tardy. He opened the classroom door, stepping into the room, "Maybe if I'm lucky she'll-"

Suddenly, a pan fell straight onto his head, making him tumble down onto the floor. He pushed himself back up onto his knees, rubbing his sore head from the impact. Once again, it was too good to be true for him, and the only culprit who he knew could be behind this trap could only be...

"Keiichi Maebara!"

Yep...that was her scolding voice...Satoko Hojo. The sleazy trap master herself who could fool Keiichi with those dastardly tricks and traps of hers. Although she was an annoying brat at most times, she knew how to make you fall into a pit with ease. She stood there in front of him, hands on her hips looking at him with an irritated gaze. "You're late! How tardy can you be, huh?" She exclaimed at him.

"H-hey, I can explain you know!" He replied back, somewhat irritated himself from having a pan dropped on his head. Again.

"Hmph, there is no excuse for being a complete tardy-pants."

Rena walked up to Satoko calmly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Give him a chance to explain, maybe it was important." Ah, the negotiator of the group, thank goodness. At least Rena was giving him a chance. good old, nice, kind Rena. Though when she could, she was terrifying at her prime during their games.

"Yeah Satoko, let old Keiichi explain why he was taking his time to slack off." And then there was Mion...being a snide prick as usual. Then again, no one would have her any other way. Well...maybe. She was of course not just the oldest, but the leader of their club. She was energetic, confident, and oh so boyish.

Satoko pouted, crossing her arms as she agreed to Rena's terms. Good. Now that the gremlin was sorted out, he could finally tell them what happened. But the thing is, what could he say to them? Better yet, what's the right thing to tell? Now that he thought about it, he couldn't just say "Oh you know, I met up with Rika's dead ancestor that's a spirit and now she's inside me cause of some spirit soul", otherwise he'd sound like a complete nut job. So instead, he carefully thought out a quick story to tell.

"The regular path was closed, so I had to take another path to the school. It took me a while to figure out where it lead because SOMEONE couldn't wait for me." He glared at Rena, who just quivered at his gaze.

"S-Sorry Keiichi, I thought you would have figured it out" She said apologetically.

"Eh, it's fine, I probably would have left you too." He said snidely, grinning.

"H-Hey, that's so mean!"

"In fact, I would probably never talk to you ever again, and replace you too."

Rena got into a blushed fit at what he said. This was one of the things he loved, teasing Rena. He couldn't help it at times, her reactions were just too cute for him to resist his evil side. But as well, it was only a half-lie. It was true that he had to take a new path and such, but he made sure not to add anything about talking to someone that caught him to be late in the first place. Behind him, a voice was giggling. He turned around to see Hanyuu trying to resist laughing at the ginger's reaction.

"Oh, hey Hanyuu", he said calmly.

She quickly looked to him, removing her little grin, "Ah, sorry I just couldn't resist. Moments like this are just too great to miss."

"That's fine" wait, if she was here, then...why not just introduce her to them? That way they'll know she's real! Duh, it's that simple, why didn't he think of that? "Hey, since you're here, you should introduce yourself to them."

Hanyuu stopped smiling, looking at him with a concerned look on her, the room now feeling dead silent. "Um, Keiichi..."

"I mean, you can appear and reappear so it'll be easy."

"Keiichi..."

"That and you can just-"

"Keiichi, are you alright?" He slowly turned to look at Mion who had asked. Her, along with Satoko and Rena, were giving him an uneasy look, as if he was somewhat loopy.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just talking to this girl here." He pointed over to where Hanyuu was standing, though she herself looked at Keiichi with both sympathy and pity, realising that she should have told him about _that_ issue.

Mion and the others looked at each other, before she replied, "What girl?"

He stood there, nervously sweating. He was now just realising what was going on...they can't see Hanyuu. He remembered those words moments ago. 'It's also why only Rika can see me'. He felt so dumb at that moment for missing that part out. It explains all this time why they could never see or hear her around Rika the entire time.

"Keiichi..." Mion spoke, somewhat worry in her voice. Oh shit, it's over isn't it? He's going to be sent to some kind of mental ward. Or maybe they think he's cursed by Oyashiro-sama? Either way, It just had to- "Does little Keiichi have an imaginary friend?"

...What? Mion and Satoko laughed to themselves, as he stood there dumbstruck. "Ohohoh, I didn't think Keiichi, at 15 years old, would have an imagination like that. So sad", Satoko retorted.

Ah, now he gets it, they just think he's pretending right? This just turned to a matter of good luck for him. So then, he decided to take the advantage on this turn of events and play along. "Hahah yep, silly old me is such a real loner that I have to make up my own friends. You got me." He said in a somewhat goofy tone, managing to fake a laugh.

The three of them calmed down, finally managing to catch their breath (well two of them, he was just pretending). "I didn't scare you did I? Heh."He asked them, still somewhat suspecting they were onto him.

"Almost, for a second I thought we somehow drove you up the wall to insanity. But yeah, that was a good one." Mion replied. He sighed of relief in his head. Thank goodness they fell for that. Though something was off to him but he didn't know what.

Until Rena took his hand and placed hers on it, still seeming to be the only one still worried about him. She spoke with concern in her voice, "Honestly though Keiichi, are you alright?"

The brunette felt a slight guilt on him at the moment. It was one thing to keep secrets, but lying to Rena? Probably the worst bit of guilt yet. He glanced over slightly at Hanyuu, who was behind her. All she did was put a finger to her mouth, an obvious signal for "Don't tell her". Sadly he had to listen to her, since no one would even begin to understand the situation. What Mion and Satoko joked about was almost basically true; Hanyuu to everyone else, is just his imaginary friend. He sighed, finally answering. "Yeah I'm fine, honestly."

Rena stared at him for a bit, until she gave up, smiling again as she pulled away her hand. "Alright, good to know. Also don't scare me like that again!"

He nervously laughed, waving his hands, "Yeah alright, alright."

"Jeez Rena, get him a paramedic why don't you?" Mion joked, smirking at her. She got an instant reaction from the ginger, as she blushed and stuttered on the spot.

* * *

So today was more maths. Perfect. Which meant he had to work with Mion and Rena as usual.

Mion sat there with her head rested on her hand, trying to figure out one of the questions. Whist she was the leader of their group, and an expert at many things, things like maths were her kryptonite. "Ugh, why are these questions so difficult? It's like algebra or something."

Keiichi looked at her unamused, "Seriously? It's just multiplications."

"Well I can't help that you're some genius when it comes to these."

"It's not even that hard, hell even Satoko could figure it out."

Mion crossed her arms, an eyebrow raised, smiling smugly. "Alright then, prove it."

He shrugged, taking the paper with the question on it and faced to where Satoko was sitting. "Hey Satoko."

Getting her attention, she turned to face him, "Yeah, what is it?" She asked.

"What's 7 times 8?"

"Easy, it's 56."

Mion's draw dropped to the loli's immediate answer completely baffled. Satoko, the same girl who didn't know how to spell most words, or even know the difference between cauliflower and broccoli, figured out a maths question that she couldn't!? Keiichi turned back to her, amused at her reaction. "Proved it." He said, smugly. Mion instantly puffed her cheeks, bashing Keiichi against the head. Welp, he definitely deserved that to be honest, though he did get his point across to her. That and he got a good reaction. Score.

Though something was still bothering him enough that it was tough to concentrate. Hanyuu, the fact that no one in Hinamizawa except Rika, and now him, could see this spirit wandering around them. The fact that he was having to lie to his friends about something abnormal made him feel guilty. Though in honesty, it's for the best. He was lucky enough to let it slip by Mion and Satoko, but Rena could have made him spill the beans. He couldn't let that happen though, he had to figure out all of this on his own, how to deal with Hanyuu, what abilities did she have, but most specifically, what Rika could possibly be hiding that's so important other than Hanyuu herself.

"Hey, Keiichi." He turned to look at Rena. It seemed like he had blanked out or something whilst thinking.

"Um, yeah?" he asked.

"I'm having trouble with this one here." She pointed to one of the questions in specific. "Could you help me out?"

"Alright then, let's see..."

Whilst he was examining it, he didn't notice Rena's look behind him, as if she was keeping an eye on the boy. It was obvious that she hadn't gotten over what happened earlier, leaving her concerned even more with what happened just now. She could usually tell when someone was lying to her. But for some reason, Keiichi was making it hard for her to tell. She knew something was on his mind, but she couldn't tell what. For now, she'd just continue to keep an eye on him, just to make sure.

* * *

The day went by pretty smoothly after this morning, helping out Rena and Mion with maths, lunch, all of that stuff. He had managed to get through the whole day without a single mention of this morning's event, or anything else at that. Now all he had to do was get out of here, head home and continue questioning Hanyuu to figure out what was going on.

"Alright people, gather round" Mion called out to the other three. Shit, he almost forgot about the games they do at the end of school. They paid attention to Mion as she spoke out. "I'm sure you all know what time it is? I was thinking since Rika isn't here for today, making us one less of a person short, we could try to do something with just the four of us for now."

"So what are we going to play I wonder? I wonder?" Rena asked curiously.

"Well I was thinking-"

"Two less." Mion and the other two looked over to Keiichi, who had already gotten out of his seat.

"What do you mean? You're not joining in today?" Mion asked, curious as to what he meant.

"I can't do it today, I have something important to do." As much as he enjoyed the club games, today he couldn't. Not with something on his mind bothering him. He went pass the others, making his way to the door. But Mion wasn't having it. All day, she knew there's been something wrong with him, and he hasn't said anything at all about it. She decided to stand in front of the door, blocking his path.

"Important huh? Like what?"

He almost hesitated to answer, before replying to her, "I can't say, this is something private. So could you please move out of the way?"

Mion gave a small humph before asking, "Come on, it can't be that bad. If it's something that's bothering you then-"

"I said move out of the way." He said that in a rather intimidating tone, making Mion flinch back from him, Rena and Satoko getting an uneasy feeling from him. It was rather aggressive compared to what they were used to. Keiichi wasn't an aggressive person at all in fact, just loud and energetic. But this, this was different. He pushed past her, walking out of the classroom and leaving her there speechless.

"What's with him", Satoko asked, this time herself rather worried. They all knew this wasn't like him. Usually he was eager to beat them in any game they threw at him, no matter how much of a disadvantage he had. But there he was, pushing past Mion and acting mildly aggressive.

Mion looked over to them, keeping her cool. "Hey it's fine, he's probably just having a bad day or something, ya know?" Though they didn't know if that was true or not, they agreed any ways. Though as they got ready to leave themselves, since there wasn't any point in doing the club activities with only a few people, Rena couldn't help bit think of the brown-haired boy. She reminded herself to watch Keiichi a bit more often, just in case. If there was something wrong and he wasn't talking about it, then he could get himself in trouble, or even hurt. Or maybe, she just remembers him doing something similar for her one time, though she couldn't recall when...

* * *

Luckily, Keiichi remembered to get his bike today, which meant he could get home much quicker than he did walking to school. Though he still regretted his action back there, feeling guilty. He didn't mean to be like that with Mion, he just wanted to understand what he was dealing with as soon as possible, it's not like it was her fault for caring. Hanyuu appeared next to him, floating at the same speed as he was going, her expression looked rather upset. "I guess I'm not the only one thinking about it", he thought to himself.

"You didn't have to be like that back there Keiichi." She said, displeased.

"I know, and yes I do regret it, trust me. I just need to know what's going on. The sooner we talk about this spirit stuff, the better." She nodded in agreement to his words. He was right, after all, Keiichi deserved to know the truth, she couldn't just leave him in the dark about all of this. At least, that's what she wanted to do. Perhaps, it was best to say it right now...

"The thing is Keiichi, I really want to tell you everything. But I can't."

He halted the bike in an instant, looking at Hanyuu in disbelief. "What? Why not? What's holding you back?" She looked down, almost ashamed at what she was going to say next.

"The thing is...I can't tell you anything without Rika. And even if she was here, she would deny to tell you anything as well."

"Then why not just tell me without her?"

"Because _she_ has the answers."

What he heard had agitated him to such a degree. Not only was he hearing that he can't be given answers into what's going on, but also that Rika, the friendliest person he knows, wont even tell him as well? He calmed down for a moment. "Alright then, so why wont she tell me?" He asked her.

The violet-haired girl replied, "It's because Rika believes that if she tells anyone, something bad will happen to them. But it's not just that." Keiichi waited in anticipation to what she was going to say next. What else was it that was holding Rika back? "Rika...has given up hope."

Keiichi was shocked to what he heard, no, refused somewhat to believe what he heard. Rika Furude, giving up hope? Was this secret that bad, it's gotten her to the point of not even caring anymore? Hanyuu though knew why, and didn't blame Rika in the slightest. It was because so many Hinamizawas that they've gone to, so many times they've tried to change fate, just all ended up being meaningless in this loop of despair. Even the last one they were at, where they had gotten so close as well...It had gotten Rika to the point of just accepting the fate of Hinamizawa, and it's great disaster to come.

"So I guess I'll have to get her to trust me then."

Hanyuu looked up to him sharply, taken aback. "What?" she asked.

"If Rika's lost hope, then I'm just going to have to show her that there is hope. Whatever this fate is, I don't care. Either way we're going to rewrite it no matter what, and give her the hope she needs to carry on being who she is; Our hope. You and me Hanyuu, we're going to figure this out together."

Hanyuu was surprised, not even that, amazed of him. She already knew much about Keiichi himself, the one who seems to be able to change fate itself at times. In fact, it was one of the reasons that made Hanyuu interested in him in the first place. If what he was saying is true, then they could turn this curse around, help Rika, and they can all live together in peace. For once, maybe what happened this morning isn't just a change in history, but a sign, or at least a shimmer of hope. Their chance to fix Hinamizawa, once and for all.

She gave a bright smile to him, "A-Alright then, we'll do this together. Au au!"

Keiichi couldn't help but smile back at the determined spirit, raising his hand, "Yeah. High fi- Oh, right..."

They both just laughed at the attempt however, under the bright moon of the village. Tomorrow was a new day, and on that day was going to be a new beginning for Keiichi Maebara and Hanyuu Furude.

**End of Chapter 2**

**A/N, Apologies for the absence of Rika so far, but don't worry she will be in this story.**  
**Next chapter or so will hopefully be a lot more fun-ish, which will be nice.**

**Anyways, have a good day/night**


	3. Chapter 3, Hanyuu's World

_**Chapter 3**_

_**Hanyuu's World**_

**A/N. Hey there, sorry this chapter took so long. I've been busy with many things lately, especially trying to get myself to stop laying in my comfy bed and write this damn chapter. But anyway, this chapter will hopefully be exciting. In this chapter will be something in Higurashi Daybreak that interested me to add as an ability to use in this story by Hanyuu. **

**In all cases, enjoy.**

It was a new day in Hinamizawa, and a new fresh start for Keiichi and his new ghostly companion. He decided today that he would walk to school, since he knew Rena would probably be waiting at their temporary route. Well that of course and how he wanted some time to think to himself whilst walking.

Thanks to their talk last night, he had somewhat more confidence about this demon/spirit shindig of sorts. He knew the main goal that was clear to him; finding a way to gain Rika's confidence and trust back, and getting the answers he needs from her. Of course though right now there were other tasks to deal with. First off he needed to apologise for yesterday's outburst, which was reasonably his fault. Another was to make sure they didn't find him suspicious, or worse, crazy. The last thing he needed was trying to explain how he can talk to a spirit of Rika's dead great grandmother (yes, that sounded funnier in his head).

Though he couldn't help but to continue thinking on the amount of questions he had, specifically for Hanyuu. She was the biggest mystery to him so far, but yet even though he's only met her since yesterday's incident, he's somewhat accustomed to her now. One question however, he wanted to ask in specific...

"Keiichi!", he looked over to Rena, waving her hand to him and calling his name. It seemed like she's made up for yesterday when she wasn't waiting for him. Now all he has to do is play it cool and act like nothing weird had happened yesterday. He walked over to the sweet looking girl casually.

"I see you waited for me this time. Now I won't have to walk to school by myself." He remarked in a teasing tone.

"Y-Yeah, sorry about that still." She replied shyly.

"Eh, don't worry about it. Any ways let's get on our way there."

She nodded, walking with Keiichi as they made their way on the path to school. "Well, at least she's acting like her normal self at least" He thought to himself. Which was a good thing. To him it at least meant that she wasn't thinking about yesterday still. Though he still has to apologise, it was wrong of him to do that to his friends after all. He sighed, preparing his apology as he looked at Rena. "So um, about yesterday-"

"It's fine"

Huh? He didn't even get to say anything. Did she really already forgive him? "But Rena I-"

"Don't worry about it Keiichi, you were probably stressed out with whatever was important right? Right?"

Well then, I guess when she puts it that way it's true. He did after all make up that he had to something important, so maybe the others will think the same as her too. After all He and the others looked out for each other at times, even the most troublesome moments. At least that's what he remembers. The last they stood up for someone was when Satoko was being abused by her uncle, and they got the entire village to support them to help her out. Even the Sonozaki family. Now he remembered clearly. Yeah, it all happened last...week...right?

That doesn't sound crazy...right? That did happen, right? Or was that another dream? No way, it couldn't be, it all felt so real, as if it DID happen. But something was off...something that wasn't right. He didn't even know Satoko HAD an uncle, or any sorts of abuse. So where did he get that info? What was going-

"Keiichi!"

He jerked suddenly, responding to Rena's call. It seems that he wasn't paying attention again, cause whilst he was thinking to himself, he seemed to have stopped for almost a minute. He had to control himself, otherwise not just his friends, but other people will start wondering what's wrong with him. He looked at Rena, a show of worry on her face. Shit, not this again.

"Keiichi, are you alright? You were doing this yesterday." He was slightly sweating, trying to think of a proper response. "Please Keiichi, be honest."

He bit his bottom lip slightly, as he prepared himself as he replied, "Sorry, I've just been real bothered about yesterday. That was real dumb of me. In all honesty, I just hope that Mion forgives me for it." Now one thing he hew was that he wasn't that dumb. He knew that Rena could tell the taste of a liar from a mile off, though that didn't stop him from thinking of tactics of avoiding her lie detector of a brain. If he sounded innocent enough, and gave a lie that sounded almost true, or something like that, then he could get away with it.

She stared a little, almost as if she was trying to read him through him with those blue gleaming eyes of hers. She gave a small smile to him, "Right, I didn't think about that, though I'm sure she'll forgive you. After all, the club isn't the same without you."

He sighed mentally, thank goodness. She bought it. "Alright then, come on, I don't wanna be late again."

"Right!" They both continued on walking their way. Though Keiichi thought he was in the clear, it was a different story with Rena. "I don't know if he's telling the truth or lying." She thought to herself, glancing over at Keiichi. It was almost like he was trying to hide something, but what? She couldn't figure it out at the moment. But she wants to, she wants to know what's wrong. What he's trying to hide. The last thing she wanted was for him to end up like him. Like...Satoshi.

But she won't let it happen. She promised herself that no matter what, she would help Keiichi with any problem he had. Even if it meant she had to tie him up and take him to her basement. Okay, maybe that IS too far, but still, she promised. Cause no matter what, she'll do anything to help Keiichi. No matter what.

* * *

Keiichi and Rena made it to the school, on time for Keiichi this time. At the front gate was Mion and Satoko, and what seemed to be Mion's twin sis Shion as well. "Odd, I wonder where SHE was yesterday", he thought to himself. It was odd for him ever since she moved to their school lately. True he was used to the other girls tricking him and such, but Shion is...different. Though on the other hand, it was funny to see her tease Mion, even if it involved him. Shion waved over to the two of them, though to Keiichi he new something was up.

"Hey there Keiichi" She said, a snide grin on her face. Yep, she was up to something. "So I heard you yelled at my sis yesterday. You know she cried a lot after that." Wow, and immediately a guilt trip.

"H-Hey! No I d-didn't! Stop making t-t-things up!" Mion replied, blushing whilst stammering her words. Ah I see, so it IS just another one of Shion's teasing moments.

Shion shrugged, "Alright jeez, I was only joking."

Keiichi sighed to himself, crossing his arms. "Well I was going to apologise for yesterday anyway, since it wasn't right of me to do that. Second, could you not try to make it that I broke her heart?"

"Well you never know, she could have had a serious heartbreak. After all she does have a cr-"

Immediately, Mion had crashed Shion onto the floor, trying to cover mouth shut whilst stammering uncontrollably.

Rena cooed over the two, "Hauu! Mion's trying to suffocate Shion! So cute!" Keiichi and Satoko just stood away from the three, looking at each other with disappointed looks. Honestly...he could never understand what she found cute any more. Though it was still odd that Rika isn't here. But to be honest, he already knew why.

He looked down to Satoko, "Hey Satoko." He asked.

She looked up to him, "Hm?"

"So um, what's with Rika? She's been absent for a while?" Immediately when he asked this, he noticed that Satoko's tone shifted a bit.

"She's...still sick." He knew she was lying, but for now he'd just leave it for later. If he continued to harass her for answers, he'd get nothing out of her.

"Ah, alright then. Hope she gets better."

Satoko gave a slight smile, looking away. "Yeah..."

"Better to not make her feel any worse today." He thought to himself.

Besides, today was going to be P.E, which means that they can keep their minds off of things like that, and more onto enjoying themselves. For now, it's the most he can do with the others.

* * *

Today he had to focus more on winning this game than about secrets and ghosts. Cause today was zombie tag, and he already knew the rules of this one; everyone tries to avoid getting tagged by the zombie. If someone gets tagged, they join the zombie team. The people who aren't tagged are announced the winners. Lucky for him, Shion got the short end of the straw, being the first tagger. To be honest, server her right for the teasing, thank karma for that one.

Keiichi however was having an issue trying to find a place to hide still. He was trying to figure out where he could go that no one would figure out until the last minute. He looked around him carefully for any spot. He spotted the school shed, heading over to it immediately. He climbed up onto the top of it, sitting on the roof. This was already perfect! A high ground, with a good look of each side in case they come from any of the sides. If he was lucky, no one could find him unless they look onto the roof, hopefully at the last second before the bell rang. Now he could just relax...

"I never really understood this game."

"Gah!" Keiichi jumped out of shock, falling over. He looked up to see Hanyuu, who had appeared out of nowhere and scared him unintentionally. "Ugh, next time could you warn me when you appear out of nowhere?"

"Ah, s-sorry Keiichi."

To be fair, it wasn't all her fault for that, he was still trying to get used to her being around him and such lately. In fact he almost even forgot she could do that. This was new to him though, considering this is probably as strange as Hinamizawa could get for him. "It's fine. Any ways, what were you trying to ask me?"

"W-Well I just don't understand the purpose of this game that you're all playing."

"Oh, well it's simple really. One person gets picked as the tagger, or what we call the 'zombie', who tags other people of what we call 'infecting' others. The winners are the ones who can not get tagged until the bell rings. It's pretty fun"

Hanyuu listened to him, interested. "Ohh, I get it now. No wonder Rika enjoys it."

"Yeah, she's definitely one of the best at this game."

Hanyuu nodded her head in agreement to him. "If only she used my ability, then she could win easily all the time."

Keiichi paused for a moment. "Ability? What ability?"

"Well you see, as a god, I'm able to use my power for one special ability. Though Rika never used it. In fact, I don't know if I can even still use it."

Keiichi sat there, thinking to himself for a moment. So it seemed there was more to Hanyuu than he thought. He was waiting for the right time to ask her what her abilities were, but it seemed she already spilt the beans before he even asked. Whatever this ability is, he wanted to know. After all, it could probably help them out against a terrible crisis. But the question was how to activate it...

Suddenly, he heard footsteps from below. He lay down as he carefully spied on the person below. It was Rena and Satoko, and it looked like they managed to get away from whoever was after them.

Rena panted, getting her breath back. "Did we get way from them?"

Satoko replied, "I think so...Mion almost got us though." Ah, so it seems like Mion's been caught already. Though that was surprising, since she's usually good at these games. In fact...for all he knows, she could be pretending she was caught. For now though, he'd stay cautions.

"Well at least we weren't caught right? Right?" Rena asked, staying positive.

"Well I don't know Rena...your flesh looks tasty." Satoko replied innocently, looming towards her.

"S-Satoko? B-But I thought you weren't caught!"

Satoko gave a devilish grin. "You should never have trusted me, dear Rena."

Rena cried out, before getting leapt on by the blonde-haired gremlin. That was it for her, Rena had become a zombie. So if it was true that Mion was also it, then he was the last survivor. All he had to do now was survive.

"Oh, hi Keiichi."

Shit! Rena already noticed him peering over, he was too cautious of himself. Her and Satoko gave him an evil grin as they looked up at him. Jesus, they're both devils! He had no choice, he had to run. But before he could, Shion appeared on the left, whilst Mion appeared on the right of the buildings. Damn, he was surrounded by all corners!

"Keiichi! I want your flesh!" Mion cried out, closing onto his location. Yep that's it, time to make a move. Before they could do anything, he took a leap over Mion, landing onto the floor and running off as fast as he could. The others looked in awe of this stunt.

"Holy crap, did he just jump over you? So cool." Rena said, awed in amazement.

"Don't just stand there! Get him" Satoko shouted, as she went after him. The others nodded, following chase.

Hanyuu appeared beside him, keeping up with his speed. "Auu~! Keiichi, what are you going to do next?" She asked, interested in his plan.

He looked at her, giving a confident grin. "You'll see." He took a turn and ran to a different direction, but to where was unbelievable. He was running to the middle of the playground. Hanyuu was confused at his action. Was he trying to get caught?

"Keiichi, you're out in the open. They'll catch you."

"Keiichi looked over to Hanyuu, "Yep, they will. Unless you help out."

"Huh?" She didn't understand what he meant.

"This is your chance to use that ability and show me how it works. This is a great opportunity to see how well it can help out of situations like these."

She was surprised, stammering on her words, "B-But I haven't used it in years. I don't even know if-"

"Hanyuu." He gave her a serious look, straight in her eyes. She stopped as she looked , this was obvious that he wasn't joking around. "If we're going to help Rika, and stop whatever this issue is, I need to know about this power. If not then we'll probably fail. I know that last night you agreed to help, but I know that you're still unsure about this." She looked down, ashamed that he knew. "But if you are with me, and you really want to help, then you need stop being afraid and do something.

He looked over to see that the others had surrounded him completely. They had all the sides covered, meaning he had no escape left. "You're done for now, Keiichi~!"

Shion called out, ready to strike.

Keiichi smiled, standing there. "Well then, come on and get me."

Shion grinned, "Alright then...attack!" All of then went towards him slowly, getting ready for the next move.

Hanyuu stood there, thinking on what he said. He was right. All these worlds, all these moments, she did nothing. All she did was apologise, as she watched their demises, over, and over, and over again. She always felt helpless, like she couldn't do anything.

The four of them got closer to him, still standing there confidently.

"Any moment right now Hanyuu." He thought to himself.

But In reality, it was herself who was stopping her from doing anything. It's why all of these worlds fell. Because she didn't even try. Keiichi is right, if she doesn't gain this courage now, this world, and many others after it, will continue to fail.

Keiichi still stood there, smirking. Mion was getting annoyed at this show of cockiness from him. "Think you'll get out of this one, huh? Not this time, cause now it's over."

"Hanyuu..." Keiichi was getting nervous now, what was she doing?

This isn't just about Rika. Nor just about Keiichi. it's about her too. About her standing up to this effort, standing up to 'her'. And this time...

"Attack!" They all leapt at Keiichi, about to close up on him just.

...It's her world.

"Hanyuu!" he called out, covering himself.

Hanyuu jumped in front of him, her hands raised in the air. "GOD'S WORLD!"

…

…

...

Keiichi waited for his demise, but nothing happened. As he opened his eyes and looked up to see however...

"W-What the..." This was his imagination right? He WAS seeing things right? In front of Keiichi was the other four, their evil little faces as they were pouncing at them. But...they were just floating in the air. No, more like they were frozen in time. He looked around the playground, seeing that not just his friends, but EVERYHTING was frozen. The leaves from the tree stopped falling mid way, there was no breeze from the wind, everything had just stopped.

"What is this?" He asked again.

Hanyuu appeared next to him. "God's world."

He took a second in before asking, "God's...world?"

She nodded, "It's ability is to stop time."

Keiichi was...amazed. Hell, any word a thousand times better than amazed. The power to stop time. How much better can it get!? Not just that, but he could just use this whenever he wants!? Imagine all the games he could win...No, even better. This can help with whatever problem they come into. This could save many lives, countless of lives in-fact.

"This is awesome Hanyuu! I knew this could come to help us!" he complimented, pumping his fists.

Hanyuu couldn't help but smile brightly at him. "Thank you. But I must warn you, it doesn't last forever, it can only last for ten seconds."

"Ah, I see. How long has it been?"

"Well, about 5 seconds. So you should make use of the rest of the time."

He thought for a moment, wondering. What could he do? He could just run for it, but how much time would that give him? Then...he had a devilish little idea in mind.

Ten seconds had passed. As soon as time began, the other four leapt right at...themselves. They all fell together in a pile, straight onto the floor. Mion rubbed her head, looking around. "Damn, where did he go?" She looked to see that he had ran off from them. She tried to get up after him, but as soon as she tried to stand, she fell over again. She looked over at her shoes that...were tied up together!?

It had seemed that whilst time had stopped, he used the opportunity to quickly tie their shoelaces together, buying him time whilst they were stuck in that mess.

"Grr...Keiichi!" Mion shouted, angered by his meddlesome trick.

He laughed at them whilst running away, getting a good distance before stopping to stand in clear view for them. Now he was just toying around with them, and this was honestly the most fun he's had yet. The anger in Mion's voice, their struggle as they're on the floor, it excited him. This was his true comeback. After so many times of him getting fooled and tricked, getting the next punishment game after another, this was finally his revenge for all those times.

The others struggled to untie their laces and re-tie them properly, getting back up on their feet. Shion raised her fist at Keiichi, cursing him. "Damn you Keiichi! You're gonna pay for that."

Keiichi smirked at this attempt of intimidation. "Oh really? If so, then come and get me."

Soon as he said this, he was surrounded from behind by both Rena and and Mion. Shion and Satoko had already gotten to surrounding the front as well, again, giving him no exit. But that wasn't going to stop him.

"Alright Mion, you take the final kill."

Mion approached Keiichi, "With pleasure."

Suddenly, Keiichi raised his hands in defeat, "Alright then, you win. I might as well accept my defeat." Mion stopped in her tracks. This was oddly surprising for them. Keiichi, already admitting defeat? This wasn't possible. There had to be something. A plan B. A set-up. But what was it? WHAT is it? "But..." Mion waited in anticipation to what he was going to say next. All of a sudden, Keiichi gave her an innocent look, covering his slight blush with his hand. "P-Please be gentle with me?"

Mion froze on the spot, her face flushed bright red. His cute expression making her flustered up, unable to do anything, whilst Rena was up on heels cooing over him. Shion and Satoko looked in horror of this scene. Keiichi, that scum bag. He had used Mion's and Rena's weaknesses to his advantage. But that wasn't going to stop them.

Keiichi turned to look at the two, a devilish grin on his face. Satoko growled under her breath, pushing past Shion. "That's it, I'll take you myself! I won't let you win this!" She pounced at Keiichi, close to catching her target. "You're finished!"

The bell rang, marking the end of P.E. Satoko fell to the ground, the feeling of defeat on her. That was it...Keiichi did it. He won. Mion managed to shake out of her trance, congratulating Keiichi. "Welp, you had some pretty dirty moves, but not bad. You got us pretty good."

He lightly chuckled to himself, leering over at Mion. "But I'm not the only one, am I? After all, there's still you. You didn't get tagged, right?" Everyone quipped their heads over to Mion.

"H-He's lying, right? Right?" Rena asked her.

Mion looked over to her, the same look as Keiichi has. "To be honest, I didn't think you would all fall for it that hard." The three of them fell onto the floor in defeat, completely bewildered of those two.

Hanyuu couldn't help but to watch the entire thing go down in front of her. Keiichi, he was amazing. How he managed to completely fool them, and gain himself the victory. It was clear to Hanyuu indefinitely. With his help, and her powers together, they were destined to break fate. Rika will love this.

"So," Keiichi stated, "What to do for your punishment..."

* * *

Keiichi knocked on the door of the office, waiting outside. The door was opened by Dr. Irie. "Ah, hello Keiichi. Is there something you need?" He asked.

Keiichi grinned, stepping aside to show Rena, Shion and Satoko. "Do you still have those maid outfits for use?" Irie couldn't help but show his excitement, rushing over and back with a variety of outfits. "I'm glad you asked, dear Keiichi!~" He said in a joyous tune. "There's this one with nice frills all over! Oh! And this one would fit Satoko lovely! And this one would..."

As Irie went on, The girls looked in horror of their demise, holding each other in fear.

"Nooooo!"

Hanyuu appeared next to Keiichi, giggling at the sight. Now she understood these games. The amounts of fun in them. The rewards and the punishments like these were enjoyable to witness. Truly, this bond between her and Keiichi was going to grow strong within these days. Maybe she should propose a punishment too.

**End Chapter 3**

**A/N. That was one hell of a blast. This was probably one of the funnest chapters i've written by far.  
For the next chapter will be delving into some more memory mystery of such, though what ones I wonder?  
Anyways, hope you enjoyed this and have a good day/night.  
**


	4. Chapter 4, Broken Memories

**Chapter 4**

**Broken Memories**

Today was the best that Keiichi ever had. He didn't just finally get revenge on those two meddlesome girls (Satoko and Shion) including Rena, but he had also gotten something far much better; God's World. Just the sound of that power itself sounded astounding enough. The ability to just stop time when he decides to, how much better could it get? He could do anything with it. He could cheat club games, trick people, look up the girls' skirts. Okay that last one was perverted, but the point has been made.

Though he did understand that what Hanyuu said, which is that it can only last up to 10 seconds. Nonetheless, it's still a godly power all for him. Next time, he would be sure to get Mion. soon enough, she would be facing his vengeful wrath set upon her.

For now, Keiichi was walking home on the same path with Mion and Rena, who had already gotten used to her cute outfit she had received. The gentle sounds of the cicadas surrounded the trees around them. Satoko had already set back to where her and Rika live, though she'll be sure to be wanting revenge for today. The same goes for Shion who had also gone back to her place.

They made it to Mion's path back to her household. Before she setted off, she gave her farewells for today. "Well, today was one hell of a club game" She stated, "Gotta admit Keiichi, you sure as hell surprised me today."

He shrugged, replying, "Guess I'm getting better after all. But don't think that I won't be going after you."

She chuckled to this amusement of a threat, "Well then, I'd better be on my guard then, eh?" The three of them laughed lightly, Mion giving a wave goodbye before setting off. "See ya guys tomorrow then."

Keiichi and Rena waved back, continuing on the path. Keiichi was glad that no one had noticed that 'trick' he pulled off then. He was sure that they would have noticed something odd, but to his luck there were no such questions. He looked at Rena, who was smiling cheerily at her maid outfit in her usual girly self.

"Hauu, this outfit is just so cute!" She cooed to herself.

"Well maybe you can take it home if you ask Dr. Irie nicely." He implied slyly to her.

"Or I could just steal it." She said with a cheeky smile on her face. Keiichi chuckled lightly at this. After that there was a short pause of silence as they were walking. Rena shyly looked down, "I think you were right Keiichi" Rena started.

"Hm? About what?" He asked her.

"You know, about how you've gotten better at these club games. I know that they can be real cruel at times with the punishments, but I'm glad that you take then well."

Keiichi rubbed his head, looking away slightly. "Ah well, it's not a big deal really, heh. Especially when I know most of these are from Mion and Satoko." After all, those two were the reincarnation of a demon at this point. Though he thanked her for at least noticing, never mind congratulating him.

Rena paused slightly, her smile turning slowly into a bit of a frown, the sound of the cicadas feeling a bit more quiet. "How have you been lately?"

Oh no. He knew what this was. She was going to start asking him questions again. Specifically on if he's alright. But as much as he wanted to tell her everything, he couldn't. Even if he tried to, she wouldn't understand the situation. He sighed, answering her, "Oh you know, busy. I've just been worried about Rika lately. We haven't seen her for a couple of days after all."

Rena nodded, "Yeah, I can understand that. I've been worried myself. She's usually always around, giving the group a positive vibe with that cute smile of hers."

He ruffled her hair, giving her a cheery look. "Ah, don't worry. I'm sure she'll be back up in no time." He reassured her.

Rena went back to her smile. "Right. It is Rika after all." They finally made it to her path. It was her turn to be heading home and departing. "Well, see you later."

"Yeah, see ya." He farewelled, waving back to her before heading on home. He was lucky really, to have friends like them. He could never dream of a better place to be without them at all. Rena, Mion, Shion, Satoko, Rika. They were the best group of friends he has ever made in his life. Though something still bothered him. That memory from this morning, about Satoko. It felt like it had happened but...it didn't? It just didn't make any sense. From what he recalled from the others, Satoko's uncle hasn't even returned ever since the murder of the aunt. So then...what was that memory?

Maybe when he gets home, he could ask Hanyuu about this. It wouldn't really be safe to talk about that stuff out in the open, who knows who could be listening.

As such, he journeyed on, the afternoon sundown shadowing down on the village. Besides, if Hanyuu is going to be 'dormant' or whatever in his body, then she could at least give him some answers. After all, this was going to be a while until he could contact Rika.

* * *

Satoko parked her bike where her and Rika usually did. She looked at the outfit she was forced to wear, grumbling under her breath as she made her way up the stairs, her obvious look of shame and vengeance could be seen clearly on her face. "Damn you Keiichi, I'll be sure to get you back for this." She grumbled under her breath. It was unbelievable. She remembered the amount of times that brunette dummy had gotten duped over time and time again, taking each punishment like they were being handed out. It was hilarious. But now all of a sudden, he just turned into a cocky pro as if he's been doing this for years. Though what was more confusing to her was how her shoe laces got tied together with everyone else's, getting them in that stumbled mess in the first place.

But either way she had to admit, it was nice to see Keiichi make progress. It was almost like back then when Mion always lost, then gradually became the best of the group. It was true that in a way, Satoko and Keiichi had their sort of rivalries at times with each other, but it was all fun and games. They were almost like siblings in the way they both acted, and who knows what the future holds.

She made it to her and Rika's household, unlocking the door and entering. She threw away everything that happened today, as she turned back to her cheery self. "Rika, I'm home!" She called out to her. No response. Maybe she was asleep, or still didn't want to talk. She sighed mentally to herself. In reality, Rika wasn't sick at all, in fact, she was perfectly healthy. But for some reason Rika just refuses to tell her what's wrong. She would do nothing but sit in that bedroom on the side of the window, looking out and mumbling to herself. What was right for sure, was that this wasn't healthy at all. Satoko had to find a way to get her out of that room somehow, even if it meant dragging her out from her feet. She thought to herself about this for a moment. What could get her out of there for at least a day...

Upstairs, Rika was sitting on the side of the window, looking outside at the luminescent night, glooming over Hinamizawa, a cold look was all that could be seen on her face, the look of a girl who had lost hope. "Two days..." She thought to herself, "It's been two days since Hanyuu hasn't come back. Perhaps she's abandoned me." She scoffed to herself. "It doesn't matter, this world and more to come will be hopeless anyway. I might as well live them out." Rika at this point had excepted the fate that has been bestowed onto Hinamizawa. Countless of times she has tried to save it, but of to no avail of progress. Yes, she now knows who's behind it, and the order of such. But what was the point when no matter what you tried to do, it would end up the same? Murdered, tortured, cursed. At this point, there was no use in fighting what couldn't be stopped.

She heard the sound of footsteps coming up from the stairs. It must be Satoko. Well, that was obvious considering she just heard her downstairs calling that she's back. Satoko entered the room, a cheery smile on her face. She had changed out of the maid outfit and into her regular clothing.

"Hey Rika" She greeted. Rika glanced back to her, then returned to stare outside.

"Hello" She answered back, her tone rather cold.

"Hm, still no change." Satoko thought to herself. No, she couldn't let this stop her, she had to try. "So tomorrow me and the others will be going to that baseball game, and I was just wondering if maybe you'd like to come?" Rika didn't reply, giving the room a silent chill in the air. Satoko sighed deeply to herself, "I understand. I just thought that maybe it would take whatever is on your mind off for a bit or-"

"Sure"

She stopped, a bit surprised to Rika's immediate response. "Really? You'll come?" Satoko asked, a sound of joy in her voice.

Rika turned to her, a small smile and innocent facade hiding her depressing emotions. "You're right, maybe I do need something to put my mind off. Nipah~"

Satoko gleamed with happiness, her tone changing swiftly. "That's great! I promise it'll be fun." She headed to their kitchen, stopping halfway. "Want anything special tonight?"

Rika shook her head a bit. "Nothing really."

"Alright, stew it is then."

She headed into the kitchen to cook their dinner. Rika turned back to the window, her smile immediately returned back to a small frown. "I might as well try to spend this time whilst I have it." She thought to herself. "Anything would be better than waiting to die here."

* * *

Keiichi gave out a sigh, falling onto his futon in exhaustion, the comfort of his room giving him more relaxation. It was about 9PM. For tonight, he had decided to have an early night, considering the amount of energy it took for that game today. He stretched out a bit and put his hands behind his head, relaxing as he stared at the ceiling in thought. Now that he was alone, maybe he could talk to Hanyuu some more. After all, he still needed answers.

"Hey Hanyuu, you there?" he asked casually. Immediately as he asked, Hanyuu appeared by his side, kneeling down next to him.

"Yes Keiichi?"

"Ah good, she is still here. Guess she really is here whenever I need her" he thought to himself. At least he confirmed that she would be around all the time. "About this ability of yours. Has Rika ever used it?" He asked. She shook her head.

"No, not really. You see in God's world, only I'm able to move around. Even Rika gets affected by it. But..." Keiichi sat up a bit, anticipating. "For some reason, it seems that you're able to control it too." ...Never mind, he was all the way back to 'confused as hell'.

"But how? That doesn't make sense. How come Rika, who's been with you for who knows how many years, can't control it, yet someone like me can figure it out in days?" She sat there, unable to answer the question. That was the same question she was asking herself, though either way it's a good thing. The fact that this Hinamizawa has brought the best luck yet is amazing on it's own.

Then she answered, "Well you always seem to change fate. No matter how hard times get, or how something seems impossible, you always seem to be there to beat it. To me, you're Rika's lucky charm if I've ever seen one. Like she said once; 'without you, Hinamizawa is both boring and doomed'." Keiichi...was lost for words. He was important? To Rika? It was enough that this was probably the biggest praise he's ever gotten, but the fact that without him life here would be...boring and doomed? That sunk in to him a lot more than it should have.

He gave a bright smile, as he stood up from his futon. "Well then, I promise I wont disappoint-" He suddenly fell forward, landing face first.

"Ow!"

"Ow!"

He looked up at Hanyuu, who was...rubbing her head like he was from the injury? "Hanyuu...can you, feel my pain!?" She gave a light nod.

"Well yes, and it really hurt."

"Ah! S-Sorry about that."

She held her hands up in panic. "N-N-No! It's fine, really! It wasn't your fault! Au Au!" Damn it she was cute. Too cute. Good thing she wasn't living, else she'd be Rena's finest victim. Wait a moment, if she felt his pain, then...

"So that means you can feel Rika's pain too?"

She answered, "Well of course. Not just that though, but other things. Like the spice from the food you eat." Damn, now he was gonna feel sorry for her for whenever something happened to him, or what he ate for that matter. Guess being a spirit isn't what it's all cracked up to be.

"I...I think I'm gonna go get some rest. Okay?" She nodded her head, disappearing. He once again laid down in his futon. For some reason, he was really liking this. The fact that he now has someone else to talk to, better yet a kind spirit who reminded him of Rika, someone he trusts. Someone to talk to about his feelings, or other things. As soon as he had a plan, he was going to be sure to help Rika. He just needed some sleep...

* * *

It was another dream, but this one seemed odd. He had woken up (in his dream) to be wandering in what seemed to be a house. The more he looked at the furniture and styles that surrounded it, he began to notice that he wasn't just in a regular house, but what seemed to be the Sonozaki residence? There was no mistaking it, since he knew that Mion's family is rich.

He wanted to look around more, but for some reason he instead began to head outside. He had somewhat no control over his body for some reason, though he couldn't figure out why. He did notice however that he was somewhat smaller, as in the size of a kid, like Rika or Satoko. So for all he knew, he was seeing through the eyes of someone else.

He was now outside of the residence house, and into a beautiful garden of some sorts. The more he looked at the scenery around him, the more he began to regret not going to Mion's place more. Then again, he'd rather not know what her family is like if she's already a demon enough.

The somewhat body of the person he was looking through headed to what looked like a cave with a wooden door. "Who knew the residence had a secret basement?" He thought to himself. The door was however closed, well locked really. "Unless this person can phase through doors then I doubt they can go any further." As soon as he said this, he and this unknown body had phased through the door. "...Never mind, I'll just shut up." He casually toned in his head.

So far there wasn't much to see. It was rather dark and gloomy, it gave off a rather harsh, cold feeling in the place. There were stairs that lead further down into this labyrinth, the path in which again he was going down unwillingly. "Just what sort of memory was this?" He questioned himself. The last he knew, he didn't remember going to Mion's house in the dead of night, phasing through doors and going into secret basements.

That's when he heard it, the unpleasant sound of an eerie laughter echo through from below. He suddenly felt cold shivers, his heart sank into his chest. "What...the hell is that?" He asked himself nervously. More and more he was going down into this dark hell. The more he went down, the more he didn't want to. As much as his curiosity got to the best of him, he didn't want to know what psychopath was down here.

Finally down the stairs, he was entered into what looked like a...torture room. Chains hanged from the ceiling, there were all types of traps and torture devices, along the floor was covered in both dry and new blood. He was now more frightened than ever. This wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare. The Sonozaki family have a torture room!? How long have they had it? How long has it been used? The eyes he looked through raised their gaze further up on what seemed to be some cross with...

What Keiichi saw horrified him in absolute shock. "S-Satoko...oh god!" On that cross was as said, Satoko. Her lifeless body chained onto the cross, her arms covered in multiple stab wounds, blood dripping onto the floor like water from a tap. Her lifeless, dead eyes sank into him, giving the feeling to vomit on the spot. Uttered for words, all he could as was, "Who...who the fuck would do this!?"

His answer was merely replied with that same laugh, but much closer. Now that it was more clear, it sounded like to him was... "No, it can't be. It cant!" The head of this body turned to the culprit. Mion. Dressed in a white shrine outfit of some sorts, holding a bloodied knife, never mind covered in said blood over her front. If he was in control of his body, he would have fell to his knees in shock and horror. Why? Why would she do this? Why!?

He heard what sounded like crying from behind her. He glinted over to see what was a person in a cage, no, not just any person. Shion!? No...the ways he sounded, that face, he knew...THAT was Mion. Then that means Shion...had butchered Satoko! He trembled in this thought to himself. What was happening, or HAD happened, right before his eyes. He thought Shion cared for Satoko, that she would never do something like this. So why? Why did this happen!?

He immediately stopped thinking to himself, as the body he was looking though began to speak. But no...she wasn't speaking, she was apologising repeatedly.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."

The more he heard them repeat, he just realised who this was. This wasn't HIS memory, and this wasn't a nightmare. This was Hanyuu's memory. What she had seen with HER own eyes. He couldn't take it any more, he couldn't. The repeating of laughter, apologising and crying raked his mind, damaging his mentality.

"Stop it...stop it...stop it...stopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopit."

"STOP IIIIIIIITTTT!"

* * *

He raised up immediately from his futon in terror, screaming from his nightmare he had witnessed. He finally stopped, panting and sweating as he sat there, shivers down his spine. Gasping for breath, he managed to speak out, "What was that? What the actual fuck was that!?" He sat there, putting his hands onto his face, gently rubbing it.

Hanyuu appeared next ho him, a panicked look on her expression. "Keiichi, are you alright?" She asked calmly, yet her voice couldn't hide her worry.

He turned to look at her, his eyes filled with the regret of what he had just witnessed. "Hanyuu...just what the hell was that memory?" he uttered out, angered yet frightened. He couldn't believe it. He just couldn't! His friends, the ones he cared for, the ones he held dear to him. Why? Just why would they just kill each other!? It made no sense!

She realised what he was talking about. What seemed to her meant that he had witnessed one of her recurring nightmares. The nightmares she had, for the regret of not being able to do anything to stop these tragic events from happening. Usually Rika would just say 'get a hold of yourself', or 'stop it then'. But maybe Keiichi seemed to rather want answers than just forgetting it. She couldn't blame him though, murder isn't just something you see and then pretend it didn't happen a minute later.

She gave a deep sigh, looking deeply into his eyes. "I promise Keiichi, I'll tell you tomorrow. For not get some rest."

He scoffed, "Sleep? Go back to sleep? Are you shitting me? After what I just saw, I don't think that-"

"Please!"

He stopped, shocked by her mild aggression in her voice. But she didn't mean it harshly, instead more of a stern voice, like a mother. Her look gave him the feel of both assertive, but still caring. He managed to calm down slightly, thinking more straight. He wanted answers, he wanted to know what was going on. He deserved to. He looked at the clock. It was 3:49AM. Though she was right, it would be better in the morning to be told then. At this point, he knew he could trust Hanyuu anyway. Maybe it was gut instinct telling him, maybe it was a guess. But somehow deep down, as if he could feel her mind and heart, he knew that she's a good person.

He nodded his head, as he gently laid back down, covering himself back up as he lay there, trying to get back to sleep. Hanyuu knelt down next to his head, a gentle care of a smile on her. She began to sang a gentle song, that gave him comfort as he fell asleep from the soft feeling. Hanyuu stopped her singing, looking back down to him. Sometimes she wished she could just pet his head. He deserved it after everything he was dealing with, and he had yet to deal with. The violet-haired demon laid down, staring at his face. "Don't worry Keiichi, I promise," She said softly, "You're not alone."

**End Chapter 4**

**A/N Man, that had a lot of transitioning here and there, but yay, Rika finally gets back into the fray. Not gonna lie, writing about the fifth arc and the descrpition hurt me a little, seeing that it was something I wasn't so eager to write about. That and it was one of the scenes to hurt me the most, considering poor Satoko is the beating doll of Higurashi at this point, poor dear. :(  
But anyways, I think you already know what could be happening next chapter. Anyways, have a good day or night.  
**


	5. Chapter 5, True Responsibility

**Chapter 5**

**True Responsibility**

Things weren't looking well at all today. Today was special, as both Okinomiya and Oshima were going against each other today in a baseball game, so the schools were closed for today. Though it seemed that the Okinomiya Titans were losing at least three to one against the Oshima High School. Over at the benches were the group, consisting of Mion, Shion, Rena, Rika and Satoko. Whilst Mion and Satoko were filled with determination, Rena and Shion were unsure if the Titans could win it back. As for Rika, she clearly didn't care. It was obvious to her what was going to happen, and how it would end. Irie, the baseball leader, came over to sit down, sighing deeply.

"This isn't looking good at all" He spoke out, "They're taking us out like flies out there."

Satoko pouted, folding her arms together, "it's because of that Koichi guy they have on their team. He's just too good."

Koichi Kameda, the Koshien player, is one hell of a talented baseball player over at Oshima. He has shaved black hair, dark eyes, and freckles on his face. He wears a white shirt and a white cap. So far he had gotten countless of batters from Okinomiya out.

"I don't think there's any use." Shion stated.

Mion looked at her, unbelieving of what her sister just said. "Wh-What do you mean!?" She blurted out. "They can still win this!"

Irie shook his head, replying to her, "I'm sorry to say Mion but she's right. With those skills that Koichi has, he's practically a devil. Unless we have a trump card of some kind, excuse my language but our toast is buttered."

While the others looked at him unamused of his weird saying, Satoko pondered to herself. A trump card huh? There's was only one person she could think of that's good at baseball, her brother Satoshi. Sadly, he's gone. But, that didn't stop her of thinking of an idea. After all, there was one person she looked up to that could help them out. She just needed a phone...

* * *

At the Maebara residence, Keiichi was already up. He had already eaten breakfast and had went back to his room, sitting on his futon with Hanyuu. After last night's nightmare, he was somewhat on edge, though thanks to Hanyuu, he was able to sleep soundly after it. Though that didn't stop him from wanting to know answers.

"Alright then Hanyuu" He began, a hint of aggression from his voice, "Start talking. What the hell was that nightmare, or whatever it was?"

"Please calm down Keiichi" Hanyuu asked him, "I did say I would give you answers. After all, you're apart of this now."

"Alright then, well I want to know what I'm apart of" He stated.

She nodded in agreement. "I understand. But before I start, I'll warn you right now; What I'm about to tell you, you may find hard to believe. But I assure you I am speaking nothing but the truth."

He calmed down, letting go of the tension as he nodded in reply to her. The violet-haired girl closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. She opened her eyes, ready to begin. "That nightmare you witnessed was indeed from my perspective. But what you witnessed has already happened."

He was already confused from this, yet scared. "What do you mean!? Does that mean Satoko is-"

"She's still alive, don't worry." She assured him. "I mean that this happened already in a Hinamizawa before this one. In fact, there have been countless of other Hinamizawas before." Keiichi was unsure of what she was saying. The more she told him, the more he wanted to ask questions, Though so far, he was limited in what he wanted to ask.

"Other...Hinamizawas? What does that mean?" he asked in curiosity, wanting to understand more clearly.

"It means that you and your friends have lived through the same experiences and such from these worlds" She continued on. "Each time repeating the same June of 1983. Though changes may differ."

"Woah hold on a second" he stopped her, raising his hands. "So what you're saying, is that...those memories that I experienced from yesterday and all, were from a previous life I had from one of those worlds?"

Hanyuu nodded her head, "That is correct, Keiichi. But those other worlds that exist, including this one right now, are because you and your friends died from those previous ones before. Although there are some changes in each one. For example, there is the world that you saw, where Shion, over her jealously, disguised as Mion, and locked her down in the Sonozaki basement. Later she killed both Rika and Satoko. After that, she continued her descent into madness, killing her sister and getting rid of you. Though in the end, she died by falling off the side of a balcony."

Keiichi sat there, his eyes widened with shock. What he heard, what was being told to him, to someone else, they would think it was crazy. But Hanyuu said she would speak nothing but the truth, so if what she was saying was right then...there has been countless of worlds where him and god knows how many of his friends, killing and dying, blood being shed, horrors committed by them, or maybe not just them, but others too. Taking this all in gave Keiichi an uneasy feeling of dread and horror.

Hanyuu realised this and asked him, "Are you alright Keiichi?"

He looked up to her, trying to relax himself, "Y-Yeah, I'm alright." He replied to her, almost unsure. "It's just, a lot to take in you know? I mean, just the sound of it all is just...crazy"

She agreed with him indefinitely, "I know what you mean" She said. "Being told about all this death and murder would frighten anyone. So don't worry, I'm still here to help you out if you need it."

"Thanks Hanyuu..." He said, blankly. "So from what you're saying, there's something that's going to trigger in this...world of ours that we have to stop, otherwise we'll have to reset again or something?"

"That is correct." She answered. "But the thing is...this might be the last world."

Keiichi sat up straight, shocked from her words. "...What? But...But why?" He asked hesitantly.

Hanyuu sat there silently, before telling him, "It's because I'm running out of energy to do so. I won't have enough to reset again. In other words, this will be possibly our last ever chance."

He went quiet, sighing heavily to himself as he gazed outside the window. So much to take in. Being told about spirits and powers was one thing. Being told that this is probably you're one hundredth time living is major already. But that this could be their last chance to succeed, was a lot to take in for even someone like him. Hell, he has to remind himself that Rika had to hear all this and deal with it.

He turned back round to her, letting go of that fear. If what he was told was true, he had to help Hanyuu and Rika against this threat. No matter what, he had to be brave for them. "Alright then Hanyuu, I'm alright now. I can deal with this." He said, determined.

Hanyuu grew a bright smile, relieved of his words. "I'm glad you're still on board with this. We need you after all."

Keiichi nodded, "Right, so what is it that we need to look out for?"

"Well for starters you need to-"

Suddenly, the phone in his bedroom began to ring. It seemed that they had been interrupted from their talk, but from who? He got up and went over to the phone, picking it up and answering.

"Hello? This is Keiichi speaking." he answered first.

"Keiichi, we're in deep trouble!" It was Satoko from the other end, and she sounded quite panicked.

"Satoko? What's wrong?" he asked with curiosity.

"We've gotten into a fight with some other school, and they're really giving it hard to us." What? A fight? That didn't sound right. Why would his friends get into some brawl with some other school. It was a Saturday, and he wanted to have time to do his own things and plan more with Hanyuu. Besides, for all he knew this was a prank by Satoko, and he wasn't in the mood for that crap. "But that's not all" Satoko continued, "Mion is really taking a beating out here." Wait! Mion!? Mion's getting beaten up! The hell he was gonna let **that **happen.

Keiichi, riled up, replied, "Say what!? Alright, I'm coming over! Where are you guys!?"

"We're at the baseball court, be sure to-" Before she could finish, he slammed down the phone. He went over and grabbed the bat that he was borrowing (it was from Satoshi, but he was allowed to use it) and got ready.

Hanyuu loomed over him, nervously. "W-What's going on? Au au?" She asked.

"Mion and the others are in trouble. I can't just let them get beat like that! I'm gonna help them out!" He rushed out his room, as Hanyuu pondered to herself.

"Wait does he mean the baseball game? Maybe I should tell him...nah, he'll be fine." She giggled to herself, dissipating over to Keiichi to follow him.

* * *

Back at the court, Mion was laying on the floor, filled with defeat. She had attempted to face against Koichi Kameda and the Oshima team, thinking she could take them on. But ultimately, she had gotten destroyed by them. The Oshima players laughed in mockery, high five-ing each over. Meanwhile, the others looked in somewhat embarrassment and shame, whilst Shion face palmed, shaking her head in shame, though Satoko was missing in the group.

Koichi stood along with his teammates, his arms folded with a smug look on his face whilst his teammates talked to each other over their wins.

"Hah, she didn't stand a chance."

"I know right? Isn't she supposed to be a Sonozaki or something?"

"Nyeheh, more like Sono...er, lozi, heh."

"Those Okinomiya guys just have to face it, they're at a loss."

They laughed along with each other as they gossiped over. Satoko appeared, her hands on her hips as she stood there vigilantly.

"Not so fast, peasants!" She announced, getting everyone's attention. She pointed over to the players, a mischievous look on her face. "Don't think you've won just yet, we're not even finished."

They all paused for a moment, looking at each other confused. They then began to laugh hysterically at what the loli said, including Koichi Kameda himself.

"Oh yeah?" He asked, a sarcastic tone in his voice, "And why is that?"

She snickered, answering to him, "Because I just called one of our best players yet. He's so good, they say he's scared off countless of dunces like you by just his glares."

Koichi looked at her with a look as if to say 'that sounds stupid', though some of his teammates seemed to have fallen for the bluff, as they seemed tensed up. She grinned at their looks as she continued on, "He's coming right now, and when he arrives on the scene, you're all going suffer his endless wrath."

A moment later, Keiichi arrived on his bike into the court. He jumped off of his bike, landing spectacularly as he pulled out the bat from behind his back. He ran up at least a few metres from them, pointing the bat at them.

He shouted at them, "Alright then! which one of you want an ass...kicking..." he slowly took in his surroundings as he looked around the court. He had a somewhat look of confusion on his face, not knowing what was even going on here.

The same couldn't be said for everyone else. While Koichi was somewhat intrigued in the new guy on the scene, the players behind him were shocked, whilst some were terrified that the blonde-haired girl wasn't bluffing. One of them fainted from others however were relieved that he had arrived. Dr. Irie was however intrigued,

"Ah, I see. So that's what Satoko's plan was" said Irie, "Though I don't see how he could turn the tide."

Rena pouted, looking at Irie with a cross tone on her, "Don't doubt Keiichi. With him, our chances of winning are now like...a million to one!"

Mion came back to the bench they were at, nodding in agreement to Rena, "She's right you know. He may be an idiot, but he's a smart idiot." Though Irie didn't get what they meant, he shrugged, somewhat agreeing with them.

Keiichi rubbed the back of his head, asking, "So uh, what the hell is all of this?"

Satoko went up to him, looking slightly embarrassed, "Heh, about that fight..."

* * *

"Unbelievable!" Keiichi shouted out, annoyed. "I thought you guys had gotten into a real fight or something, hell, I was worried. But no, It was just some 'baseball game' this whole time, making me look like an idiot in front of everyone!"

Satoko had told him about her plan, and that they needed his help to win. Of course, Keiichi was annoyed that he was told in a way of a lie on the phone. He sat there on the bench, his arms crossed and a sour look on his face.

Mion sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "I get that you're annoyed, but we seriously need you for this."

The hot-headed brunette turned to her, an eyebrow raised. "How am I gonna change the match? Didn't you get beaten as well? I thought you were the best of the group."

The comment flustered Mion, as she tried to retort back at him. "H-Hey! I'm not good at everything ya know!"

Rena interrupted them as she peered in the middle of them. "Besides Keiichi" she stated, "Maybe you could use that charisma of yours or something right? Right?"

He sat there, as he thought to himself for a moment. He looked at Koichi, who was at the other side on his bench with his teammates. This guy was a real pervert for sure. From what he guessed, he probably compares girls to sweets. Of course there's nothing wrong with being a pervert, since it's what boys are for like him. He could in-fact use that to his advantage, forcing him to let him win. It was just something else. As if...he's already done it before, from one of those 'worlds' Hanyuu was talking about. He got up from the bench, stretching a bit as he took in the surroundings.

Irie asked him, "So are you up for it then? You're gonna help out?"

Keiichi turned to him and replied, "Yeah sure. I'll try out with helping you guys." Rika peered at him, for some reason interested. It was like she knew that he was planning something. But then again, it couldn't be something she hasn't seen before already...right? Hanyuu was also interested. She knew that he must have a plan for this. Or maybe he'll think of something during the match? The curiosity was quite entrancing.

Rena pumped her fist in excitement. "Yeah! That's the spirit Keiichi!"

Mion nodded, "Go show them what the club's made of."

"Yeah! Otherwise you're in big trouble!" Satoko commanded, though it was obvious she was hiding her appreciation.

Keiichi rubbed the back of his head, overtaken by their words. "Hey now, don't be thinking I'll turn into superman all of a sudden or something."

Meanwhile, Irie took in the other's inspiration, amazed in their sudden tone shift from despair to excitement. "Interesting. They're all just rooting for him now. He's really made it look like he can turn the tide."

"Well that's him for you I guess" Shion answered, sitting next to him. "Always full of surprises."

Keiichi took the bat, as he nodded to the referee. They understood, declaring that he was now officially in the match. Meanwhile over with the Oshima team, Koichi took interest in this guy, as he prepared himself for what this guy could pull off that his half-wit friends couldn't.

* * *

As thought, Keiichi was not doing so well at the moment. So far he had lost a few times, thanks to Koichi being their pitcher. His throws were incredible, catching him off guard many times with how he threw it, and the angles they went. Keiichi just couldn't seem to predict his movements.

He was back at the bench where everyone else was, waiting for his his turn yet again against the terrifying Oshima pitcher. Mion sat there in frustration, her arms crossed, rapidly tapping the floor, a sour mood on her face.

"Aw, this is some real bull!" She exclaimed, "We're just getting rubbed into the dirt with that guy!"

"Indeed" Irie said. "Nothing has seemed to change in this match at all. Satoko, I thought you said Keiichi could turn this around." Satoko herself was also infuriated by their lose streak by Koichi Kameda and the Oshimas. This was meant to be their big break, but yet they weren't even gaining an advantage at all.

She spoke out, "He's supposed to be. Hey, Keiichi! What are you even doing out there!? Are you even trying!?" She got no response from him. "Hello? Are you even listening to me?"

Keiichi was sat there, a hand on his chin as he was thinking to himself. True he was losing, but he had clearly figured out something. Since this Koichi guy was so skilful, and clearly the best player on their team, that meant if he could pull off even a single bat, possibly a home run even, then he could for sure break his team, hell, even making them surrender. But that would be hard to pull of on his own. Unless...

"Keiichi!"

He stopped thinking, looking over to Satoko who had been trying to call him. "You need to get real serious, ok?"

He gave her a blank look for a moment, then gave her a confident smirk, which made her slightly confused at his reaction. "Oh don't worry" he replied, "This one will make you guys jaw drop for sure." Everyone else was somewhat dumbfounded as to what he meant. They haven't really seen much to what he's done, other than losing this match, so it'll be a miracle to them if he can pull something off.

However, Rika was somewhat intrigued. She was still sat at the far end of the bench from everyone else, staying quiet. But she took somewhat interest into Keiichi at the moment. She didn't know why, but there was something off about him. How confident he was, and...different? He was up to something, but what exactly?

He was already next up, as the last player was wiped out. He got up, grabbing his bat as he headed to the batter position. He positioned himself as he got ready. Koichi had a good look at him, as he grinned in his own praise from his teammates.

"This is it?" He thought to himself, "This is the guy they called for? What a joke. I've wiped this guy out more than he probably wipes his own ass. Doesn't matter any ways, cause either way, they've lost." Koichi got himself ready form his pitch, readying the ball in his rough hands.

Keiichi whispered under his breath, "Hanyuu." She immediately appeared next to him, curious as to what he summoned her for.

"What is it, Keiichi?" She asked him. "Do you finally have a plan?"

"Yep, and it's simple" He said quietly, making sure no one was giving him a weird look as if he was talking to himself. "If we can pull off a home run on this guy, we'll be sure to win this."

Hanyuu put a finger to her chin, confused as to what he meant. "But how?" She asked, "As far as I've seen, the scores are pretty unbalanced, it would be a miracle to take it back. Also, what do you mean 'we'?"

He gave her a reassuringly smile, winking at the goddess. "Just trust me, alright?" he asked her. She was unsure for the moment, but then she shook the feeling off, wanting to be sure that she doesn't doubt anything again. She wasn't going to let her negative thoughts get in the way. She nodded, giving him relief. "Alright then" He continued. "Be ready for my signal."

The referee blew the whistle, beginning the match. The buzz-cut wonder threw the first pitch in an amazing arch. Keiichi swung the bat at it's direction, but missed it.

"Strike one!" The referee called out.

The others were in complete tension just watching this match. All except Rika once again. Something was wrong to her. Keiichi didn't just miss the ball, he wasn't even being serious. He intentionally missed? But why?

Koichi was passed back the ball, and he prepared the next throw. This time however, he threw a curveball, wanting to be sure he could scare his opponent. Unpredictably though, Keiichi wasn't even phased. He went and swung at where it was being thrown, and missed again, and he still had a reassured face on him.

"Strike two!"

It was confusing to the great pitcher himself. He didn't get it. Why was this guy so relaxed? This guy was losing. The whole of his team is losing. He should be mad, panicked, scared. But there he is, thinking he can just win this? Not by a long shot. And he was going to finish this, one way or another.

He was passed the ball again, this time clenching it with pure passion and diligence. He aimed the ball, this time, he knew just how to throw it. "You're finished." he thought to himself. He aimed the ball, and threw a four-seam fastball, probably one of the fastest throws he's done for a while. He would be sure that he took out this guy, making him purely embarrassed. It was over.

Under his breath, Keiichi smirked to himself, and gave the signal, "God's world."

Immediately, Hanyuu appeared, freezing everything around them completely. The ball was directly in front of him on the side. **This**, was Keiichi's plan.

Hanyuu landed on the ground, somewhat intrigued in his idea. "I see what you wanted to do" Hanyuu said, "Stopping time in this exact moment is perfect. In fact, you have a perfect shot at the ball. Though, how is this going to work?"

He went up to the ball, as he crouched down, holding his bat to aim directly at it. "You'll see." Is all he said. He began by hitting the ball lightly, and didn't stop there. He did it again, and again, and again. But he wasn't just hitting them randomly, no, he was aiming over the fence. That was what Hanyuu noticed, and made her realise his plan.

"I-I understand now!" she exclaimed in excitement. "You're using God's world not to just freeze the ball in place so you can hit it perfectly, you're also adding momentum and force to it, so then when you hit it out of time, the ball will hit straight out of the pitch! Giving you a home run!"

Keiichi was impressed in how Hanyuu managed to figure it out. "How many seconds do we have left?" he asked. The violet-haired loli put up two fingers on her hand, meaning only two seconds. He understood, as he got back into the position he was in before. He have a deep breath, tightening the grip on the bat. He gave a full, proper swing at the ball, going straight for it.

As he did so, time stopped at the exact moment he hit the ball. All of a sudden, the sound of the collision have a loud bang, as the ball went soaring into the sky, wing gushing past it as it flew hats off of people and blew their hair. It went as fast as a race car, it even broke through the clouds, splitting them apart. Everyone was awestruck in the awesomeness of what they just saw, shouts of excitement and cheering went on in the crowds of the players on the Okinomiya team. Rena and Satoko were cheering greatly, amazed completely. Meanwhile, Mion and Irie jaw-dropped at the sight they had just witnessed, along with Koichi himself.

Everyone on the Oshima team were completely dumbfounded and shocked to the sight in front of them. "WHAAAAAATTTTTTTT!?" They all exclaimed in unison. As this happened, a lot of their players dropped their bats and gloves, leaving the benches. "Yep, I'm out." One of them said, walking away from the sight. From the looks of it, they had surrendered, which meant that altogether that the Okinomiya Titans win my default.

Rika was lost for words, or even thoughts of reason. She had no idea what just happened in front of her. Keiichi just did something that she has never seen before. Hell, it was inhuman of what he had done, as if there was something else to it. But this...only gave Rika great reassurance. It meant that if he **does**, then this could mean...that maybe they have one more chance.

Koichi nimbly knelt to the floor, looking down at the ground in disbelief. He, Koichi Kameda, the top Koshien player, had lost to this guy. He heard footsteps approaching him, then stopping right in front of him. He looked up, to see the mysterious brown-haired boy himself towering over him, the sunlight shadowing his eyes.

He stammered in his words, "Y-You're incredible! Stunning! Fantastic! I've never lost to anyone but you, you got me to my own knees!" As Koichi looked up again, the boy had reached out a hand to him, offering to pick him up, a bright smile on his face.

"That was a good game. You we're great out there." he said to him. "But just never underestimate me again, ok?" The once-top player was swayed by this guy's words. He wasn't boasting at him, no, he was admiring him. He knew how good he was, how he, Koichi, was boasting his skill, and how mean he was to his friends. But instead, he was showing him kindness.

He took his hand, getting back up. He immediately bowed before him, tears or joy flooding his eyes. "Thank you so much!" he exclaimed, "For now on, I'll do anything for you! I'll respect others! I'll stop being perverted!"

Keiichi put a hand up to stop him for a moment. "Hey now," he said, "Who said you needed to stop being perverted. Take pride in it. After all, we're guys, right? It's what we do." He winked at him, a shining glint in his grin, Hanyuu behind him blushing in completely embarrassed over his words.

Koichi took these words deeply, smiling along with him. As Keiichi went off to the bench with the others, Koichi called out, "W-Wait! What should I call you!?"

He stopped in his tracks, turning to him. He smirked greatly, answering him, "Just call me K." He continued walking back, The buzz-cut boy standing there, astounded by this mysterious person, who goes by the name, K.

Whilst Keiichi was heading back to the others, Hanyuu appeared beside him. "Keiichi, that was amazing. I've never seen such a thing like that before."

Keiichi casually gave her a thumbs up. "I'm just glad you trusted me through it all."

"But um, could I ask something of you?"

He stopped in his tracks, paying full attention to her. "What is it?" he asked, curious to what she wanted. She was somewhat anxious to say anything at first, rubbing her arm softly.

"It's just that, I want to make sure that you'll take this power of mine seriously is all." She said, concern in her voice. "I can tell that you're going to to great things, but at the same time, this power is no joke to just be used for silly things. However, i'm still amazed by you. After all, you've been the only one that can sustain and use this power compared to Rika, and yet I still don't know why."

It was quiet for a moment, Hanyuu standing there with anxiousness, feeling as if maybe she's asked too much of him. Though all he did was give her a confirmed look, nodding. "I promise I'll use it seriously. You can count on that." He answered to her. She looked back at him, reassured by his words and promise on what he would do, her pretty eyes gleaming in thankfulness. She truly knew that he was a man of words, other than a great person himself.

"However..." he started, getting her attention for a moment. "It doesn't mean I won't use it to peep on girls in the shower, heheheh!" Hanyuu immediately broke down into a flustered fit, waving her arms around exaggeratedly.

"Au au au au au! Keiichi you pervert!" He laughed at her as he continued walking over to the bench, enjoying the sound of the panicked goddess herself. He was only joking after all. Maybe he should tell her...nah, she'll be fine.

**End Chapter 5**

**A/N, Hoo jeez, that took much longer than it needed to with finishing this. Apologies for the wait, for the past couple of weeks or so I've been in a block of such. I tried staying up late to finish this for a few nights and, well, it didn't do well for my health. Either way, hopefully the wait was worth it. It was going to be longer than this but I decided to save the rest for chapter 6, which will be going more in depth with the memories and such.**  
**Anways, hope you enjoyed and see you next time or so.**


	6. Chapter 6, Hidden Foe

**Chapter 6 **

**Hidden Foe**

"Today was just unbelievably incredible." Was all Mion could think to herself as she was walking with the others. They didn't just manage to win back the match with odds, but embarrassment on the enemy's side as well. But it wasn't just that which amazed her, but Keiichi as well. There was just something about him that she was getting a somewhat alluring vibe to. He pulled off the impossible, an amazing home run that made the whole game, set and point there, that almost the entire Oshima team just went and gave up, even Koichi himself. Lately, he was just pulling off amazing things left and right. In fact, she'd even say that he was, how could she say it, attracting her, with his cool attitude, those stunning arms, and who knows what's under his shirt...

"Hello, Earth to Mion?"

She jumped out of her trance, shaking her head as she turned to Rena who had been trying to talk to her for quite some time now. Though thanks to her daydreaming, she didn't hear her at all. Hopefully, she wasn't talking to herself as well. They were all going to the Angel Mort diner, to celebrate their hard-worked victory, to go eat some delicious cakes and such. Perhaps there were some specials today too, which would be terrific. For now, she gave her attention to Rena.

"Yeah Rena?" Mion asked her.

"I was just saying how awesome Keiichi was today, right? Right?" She asked Mion, though she probably already knew her answer. Mion obviously didn't just want to agree, she had to keep up her snarky way with him, otherwise he'd be getting the soft treatment from her, which she **didn't** want.

She scoffed Rena, holding her head high, "Yeah I guess, though he could have done it a lot sooner than later ya know." In a way, she was right. After all, Keiichi had only done it after about three or so rounds, as if he was building up tension or something. Oh wait, that was **exactly** what he did. Keiichi however looked unamused at her remark, along with Rika.

"Hey, at least I did something" He replied back at her. "Besides, didn't you get your ass kicked whilst Satoko used her brain to get me here?" Mion flustered in annoyance at his comment, completely overtaken by his somewhat insult. She swore she could hear Satoko behind him snickering as well.

"I-I wasn't losing! I was bu-buying time for you to get here! Yeah, that's it!" That however, was a lie. In truth, she had intended to take on the Oshima team, along with Koichi by herself. In the end however as shown, she got completely annihilated, since she lacked the skills to even play at all. Just because she was the club 'master', didn't mean she was the baseball master.

"Right...well," Keiichi pointed at Mion's face for a moment, "You've got some drool on your face." She quickly responded to him, wiping off the saliva that had come from her mouth. "Shit!" She thought to herself in a slight panic. She must have not noticed, whilst again, daydreaming over him, which she didn't want him noticing.

Shion peered behind the brown-haired boy, a smug look on her face. It seemed that she would be taking this as an opportunity to tease her sister yet again, knowing exactly what she was thinking about.

"Oh my!~" She cooed annoyingly, grabbing Mion's full attention of her evil antics. "Was someone having naughty thoughts about a certain someone!?~ Such a naughty sis of mine!~" Mion once again flustered up, waving her hands frantically In the air.

"I wasn't! I swear! You're just being a pervert Shion!" She tried to defend herself, but her dominatrix-loving sister didn't believe a single word. She laughed coyly as Mion was a blushed mess, along with the others. Except Keiichi.

That laugh...that evil laugh was all he could remember from last night. The dream where he went into the basement, the dream where he saw one of his own friends murdered, the dream...where Shion was a murderer. He lightly shoved Shion away from him, getting a bit of distance away from her, still moralised by fear from last night.

This caught the attention of everyone else, surprised of his sudden action at the moment, whilst Shion was rather annoyed, regaining her balance as she struck daggers at him. "Hey, what gives?" She asked in a bitter tone. He didn't answer immediately however, as he was trying to think up some bullshit reason. How could he help it? For all he knew, it was merely just the bad reminder of what he saw. In fact, he remembers Hanyuu saying that this was from another world, some cruel, twisted world where Shion was a psychopath.

But then again, that was just that one world, right? It couldn't just happen twice in a row...right? Unless, that's what he was **supposed **to believe. For all he knew, she could do it again in this world, she could go out and kill people like she once did. For now, he'd be watching her closely, making sure she doesn't do that.

He regained himself, standing up straight. "Well, you did just burst out laughing next to my ear you know" he started off, "so of course I'm gonna get startled like that." It was a dumb reason to be sure, but one that could be easily believed.

Shion huffed in annoyance, "Yeah alright. Just don't do it again scaredy cat." She retorted back at him. Though whilst everyone else believed him as well, Rika however was somewhat suspicious of him. After all, this morning surprised her all too much in a way. She thought the events were just going to be the same; predictable and nothing new. But she was wrong, so wrong. Instead, she witnesses Keiichi do something that seemed near as impossible to anyone else, almost like a stronger force of power than anything. That, and she hasn't heard from Hanyuu since...well, then. Right now, she had no idea what was going on, or maybe what was going to happen next. But all she did know, was that Keiichi Maebara, was somehow going to be making changes to this world. And she was ready for it.

But right now? She knew he didn't get startled randomly, he seemed freaked out, somewhat still driven by something that scared him. Unless...did he know about Shion and what she did in another world? Was that memory what startled him? Or is he going to end up like the last world a long time ago...beating his friends to death? She could only be patient and...no, she couldn't just watch, not this time. If anything, she needs to get closer to Keiichi, find out what's with him. If she can do that, then perhaps, there could be just one last chance to change fate.

Satoko was the first one to break the silence, "Hey Keiichi, didn't you forget something?" She asked, though she knew what she was talking about.

He however, didn't. "Huh? Like what?" He asked her, curious.

"Your bike and the bat. Weren't you paying attention?" Shit, now he remembered! He'd just gone off without them. How stupid could he be today? Well either way, it was an excuse to get away from the awkward situation that he made. For now, he just made up an act.

"Ah damn it. I knew I was forgetting something." he turned around, setting off back to the baseball court.

"Hey, you're going back? Can't you just get it tomorrow?" Mion asked him.

He shook his head, "Nope, don't wanna risk forgetting again. Besides, I'll catch up with you guys when I get my bike, so don't wait for me."

Mion shook her head, though he did have a good point. "Alright then" She allowed, as if he was gonna listen to her. "Don't be too long Mr. forgetful."

"I wont Miss red face." he joked back, running off before she could go after him, as she went beet red for the third time today, ranting at him whilst he went off. Nope, he will never **not **find that funny.

* * *

Keiichi had so far made it to the marketplace of Hinamizawa, still making his way back to the others. He had gotten back his bike, along with the bat, but he decided that he would take a leisurely stroll before he went on back to the others. He looked back at the bat that he used, during the baseball game. He remembered being given it by Mion and the others, a 'gift' or something for joining the club. It apparently belonged to Satoko's brother, Satoshi, though he transferred months before Keiichi appeared. So far, it's been incredibly reliable to him, he'd even go far in saying that it somewhat gave him luck. The bat however had better days, as it still had a couple of cracks in it from the impact that he put onto it back when he used Hanyuu's powers.

Note to self: fix the bat...and next time, use less force.

Something, however, was odd today. As he strolled through the marketplace, he noticed that, well, no one was around. That's odd, real odd. It was hardly even lunchtime, so that should mean there are people out and about, selling and buying things, right? Maybe his new friend would know.

He'd call out Hanyuu, who appeared immediately. "Yes Keiichi?" She asked.

"There's no one around here. What's up with that?" He questioned her. As Hanyuu looked around, she could also notice the strangeness in this all. She put her hands to her face, unable to understand.

"Au, au, au. I have no idea" She responded, "There should be people all around us, I don't understand what's going on." So it was obvious to him, this **was** unusual. But it was more than that, he had an uneasy feeling. As if someone...was watching them. Hanyuu could also sense this, closing up next to him. "Can you feel it too?" She asked him.

He nodded, dropping his bike as he slowly took out his bat. "Yeah, it's like someone else is here. I don't like it." He carefully looked around him, assessing the situation right in the middle of them. Though he wasn't as calm as he wanted to be, sweat dripping from his forehead, gripping the bat harshly as he paid caution. Hanyuu however, showed less calm in her situation, but she was going to stay brave for Keiichi, she was going to help him no matter what, and keep him safe.

He turned to look over at the noodle shop, analysing the building. There was no sign of someone there, so that was clear...but wait, what was that? He looked over to the opening of an alleyway next to it, a tall figure standing by it. He wore a grey uniform which consisted of a shirt and pants, along with a grey cap and black shoes. In fact, he looked like those men he usually sees, who drive by in the white vans. But he looked somewhat different. For example, he was taller, and his sleeves were rolled up. He also had long, ruffled hair, but he couldn't see his face clearly.

It was well clear now that they weren't alone, but something felt threatening about him. Why was he just watching him? Or worse, why was he following him? Either way, he wanted answers. "H-Hey! What do you want!" Keiichi shouted over at him. It was all he could muster up to ask, anything else he could ask, he couldn't think of out of the fear that was freezing him on the spot. The man didn't respond however, continuing to stare at him. It made Keiichi feel rather uncomfortable, almost as if he was studying him, as the man looked from up to down of him. When he was done, the stranger turned around, walking away down the alleyway.

Keiichi and Hanyuu were somewhat confused. He just, looked at them, he was literally stalking them, and now he has the audacity to just play it cool and walk off? No chance. "Hey!" Keiichi called out, chasing after him. He ran over to where the alleyway was, the man continuing to casually walk down. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Keiichi ran up to the man, his bat in hand, ready to defend himself in case. He wasn't just going to let this guy get away, not a chance. For all he knew, this man probably had answers that he and his spirit friend needed. He reached for the stalker, just about to grab his shirt...only to grab thin air.

He was confused...real confused. He wasn't in the alleyway any more, in fact, he was back outside. Where did he go? What happened? He turned to Hanyuu to ask her, but as he did, he saw her, staring at the building next to them, the look of shock on her face. What was freaking her out? He immediately got his answer as he looked at the building. He was...no, it wasn't possible.

He was back in front of the noodle shop, where they saw the grey shirt man in the first place. But that didn't make sense...how did that make sense? How could he be in the alleyway, to end up back where they started? It felt like Gods World but...that couldn't be true. There wasn't anyone else like Rika and Hanyuu...was there?

Before he could think any more to himself about the situation, the same man was right behind him. He was about to ready his bat but he was too slow, as the mysterious figure elbowed him in the side of Keiichi's face, making him fall to the ground, dropping his bat. He reached out for the weapon but it was useless, as his hand was stepped on, digging it to the ground, groaning in pain. The strange man crouched down to him, grabbing him by the collar, making the brunette look right into his eyes, giving Keiichi no chance to see his face properly. The man's eyes were somewhat jagged, like demon eyes if even anything else, with a crimson colour to them. If the devil existed, then this guy was the clear reincarnation of it.

The man hummed to himself, as if he was thinking for a moment. "As I thought" was all he said, as he picked Keiichi up, lifting him in the air. For a guy whose body time seemed like his, he was much stronger than his appearance showed to the naked eye. Suddenly, his fist came into contact with the brown-haired boy's face, sending him into the nearest post. The impact gave Keiichi some great damage to his head, making him slightly nauseated, as he struggled to get back up. It didn't help when the stranger grabbed him by the back of his neck, pounding him back into the hard ground. He could already feel the blood dripping from his nose, his breathing became harsh, but this person was cruel in his punishing attacks on him, picking him back up as he kicked his face into the wall of the nearest kiosk, keeping his boot on his cheek as he ground his head on the wall.

Hanyuu was powerless to do anything, just like many times before, she could only watch in horror as this happened. "I'm sorry Keiichi" She said, her eyes filled with fear, tears streaming down from them. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

* * *

Yesterday Afternoon, 10:30pm…

Keiichi was at his desk, writing something down on his notebook as Hanyuu sat patiently next to him. "Alright, let's run through this again" He started off, turning to her, "So basically, this 'Gods World' pretty much stops time for around ten seconds, meaning me and you can just do things like move chairs and all, and no one would know why?"

"Basically, yes" Was her simple reply. He nodded, continuing to write down on the notepad.

"So, are there any negatives other than the time limit? You know, in case we run into a threat."

Hanyuu thought to herself for a moment, before replying, "Well there are two negative issues. The first is to not rapidly lose the power, otherwise it becomes less effective each time." So pretty simple, the more you use it, the less time it has to recharge. In any threat or danger, that could be fatal if anything happens.

"Alright, what's the second?" Keiichi asked.

"The second," Hanyuu began, "Is physical contact. For example, if someone was holding down on you, as in holding you hostage, then you wouldn't be able to use Gods World, since that connection with someone else would be interfering with the power." So, in any case the last thing he wanted was to be grabbed by someone else, or in a tight grip of some beefy dude. Hanyuu continued, "I do hope that you won't get into a situation involving the second one, au au…"

Keiichi stopped writing for a moment, putting down the notepad and pen, gazing back at the spirited loli. "Why do you care so much?" Is what he asked her, a sound of curiosity in his voice.

Hanyuu however was confused in what he meant exactly. "About what?" She asked him.

"About me? I mean, I'm not your ancestor like Rika is, and you've only known me for a few days…well ok more like hundreds of years or so, but you were never close to me. So, what changes things now?" He wasn't wrong to ask that of her, after all it was a genuine question to ask. To Hanyuu in a way, everyone who lived in Hinamizawa in her eyes were her children. Her youths that she swore to protect, as their angelic guardian. Rika and her friends however, were closer to her, as in her own children if she were to put it that way. They had come so far together, through hardships and kindness, through tragedies and friendships, they were destined together as friends, or perhaps family even.

What she said however, was a lot less heart-warming than intended. "Well er…it's just um…au au, you're uh…like a son I never had!"

And with that chock-up of a sentence, Keiichi was speechless, completely silent, nothing to say, or even think of to say. "Ah! I-I didn't mean it like that! I-I- "

"Thank you"

She completely stopped to a halt after he said that. For him, he felt touched in a way, being compared to a son in her eyes. Of course, he had his own mom and dad, but him and their relationship together was…well it wasn't bad, they just didn't really interact much in a way, so it was hard for him to get attached to them, especially when they were consistently working. There was nothing wrong with working hard and all, but it would have been nice to at least have a family time or something. With Hanyuu however, he could see it in her eyes, the way she expressed herself, and how she acted. To him, she was somewhat motherly in how she was. She wanted to protect the people she loved and cared for, she worried for him and acted like any mother would when hearing their child talk about inappropriate things in public.

He gave Hanyuu a bright smile, looking in her dazzling eyes. "Thanks for looking over us. For everything you're doing to help. Thank you." The violet-haired goddess couldn't say anything at the moment, completely joyed and touched by his words, as if he knew exactly what he thought. After all, at this point, they were connected the same as her and Rika are.

Tears of joy struck down her face, worrying Keiichi as she bawled in happiness. "Auauauauauau!Thankyousomuchohmygoddess!"

He didn't do anything but the moment, but laugh to himself over Hanyuu's overreaction. But this time not out of humour, but of kindness.

* * *

Present Time, 11:39am...

Keiichi struggled, attempting to pry off the boot of the man squishing his head on the wall at the moment. But alas, there was no use, as the adult was far stronger than he was, his own strength unequal to his. The stranger removed his footing from him, once again picking him up by the collar and raising him up to his eye level. Keiichi's view of the man's face was still not clearly visible. It was obvious that this guy was making sure to hide his view of him, though he didn't know why. It was hard to think when you've been pummelled, bleeding and held up, feeling vulnerable and against your own will. The worse part, was that there was no one around to help him. For all he knew, this man was going to kill him, right here and now, and no one will even know. Mion, Rena, Rika, Satoko, Shion, Hanyuu, and everyone else. "I'm sorry I failed you all..." Was all he could think to himself, as he grew unconscious, about to pass out any moment now.

"Hey! Leave him alone!"

He heard the sound of someone's voice, a girl's voice in particular, that caught both his and this man's attention. It seemed that he still had a small string of luck at this very moment, which he was thankful for. The stranger was sure to be wasting no time, as he let go off Keiichi, dropping him onto the ground. He crouched down to the ground, his mouth close to his ear, to be sure he heard him. "You're not ready." Was all he said, as he ran off back down into the alleyway he came from, disappearing from Keiichi's view as he was about to pass out. As he was losing consciousness, he could see the figure of the girl he heard earlier, though he was unable to see any detail as his view went blurry.

"Oh shit...it's going to be alright. I'll call for help. Just, stay with me...

* * *

"...chi? Keiichi? Are you awake?"

Keiichi was still trying to recover from the beating from earlier, his vision clearly still blurry as he lay himself up with his elbows. He winched from the pain in his head as he rubbed the specific part that guy beat. He was in what seemed a white room of some sort, laying a hospital bed. He wasn't the only one in the room it seemed, as Dr. Irie was there next to him, sat down on a chair.

"Ah, thank goodness, you're awake." Irie said, relieved for him. Ah, now he knows where he is. He must be in the Irie Clinic, thank god for that. He always did find this place more reliable any ways. Keiichi was still in his casual clothes, so he wasn't changed into anything. But he had a patch where his head split open, including his nose from the bleeding earlier, so nothing too serious. At least he still had his memory.

He turned to Irie, still having some slight pain as he moved. "You probably weren't expecting to see me again like this today, huh?" He lightly joked.

Irie laughed lightly, though awkwardly. "It's a real shock to be honest. We were all just playing baseball, then the next thing I'm here patching your wounds." He had a fair point there, though in all fairness, it wasn't his fault. He felt threatened by someone, no in-fact, he was being **stalked** by someone, and merely defended himself in a way. In the end, he was completely beaten to a pulp. He could still remember that stranger's final words; "You're not ready." What did he mean? Why was he after him? What did he want? These were answers that he needed answered.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Keiichi said, apologetically.

The doctor chuckled slightly, "It's alright, I'm sure you didn't start it." Well he was relieved about that, he was just waiting for him to say- "Though I'd like to know, who did this to you?" ...And there it was. How was he going to answer this? What was he supposed to say? That some random guy in a suit just beat him up for trying to follow him? He could just lie and say he didn't...no, enough lies. Him lying was going to get no one anywhere. He just had to be as honest as he could be.

He sat up slightly, thinking as much detail of this man as he could, and what happened. He started off, "Well, I was walking through the village, the store area to be exact, but no one was there, completely silent." Irie contemplated for a moment, sitting back down on the chair as he put a hand to his chin in thought.

"That's strange," He stated, "There should have been a lot of people there today."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Right, continue."

Keiichi continued on his story, "I was alone, and at a point felt like I was being watched. Of course, I was, and saw a guy standing by the alleyway of the noodle shop." Irie got out a notepad and pen, ready to write down something.

"What did this man look like?" He asked calmly.

He sat there for a moment, making sure he got everything correct in his explanation. "Well he wore a grey uniform, a shirt and pants to be exact, but the sleeves were rolled up. He had a grey cap and long, messy hair at the back. I couldn't even get a good look of his face, but his eyes were right in front of me at some point, and they were creepy, as in they were crimson, and jagged too. If I were to say what he looked closer to, I'd say one of the grey shirts that drive those vans."

Irie had paused after that last sentence, almost like he couldn't believe what he heard. "A Yamainu employee..." Was all Keiichi could hear him mumble. Yamainu? What was that? Some kind of secret company? Was that what this was about? And how did Irie know about them? Unless...he has some tie with them, and one of their employees are just going around, spying on brown-haired, young boys? So many questions that needed answering, though he was sure that Irie wasn't just going to tell him about this. At least not yet...which reminded him of something to ask.

"Hey uh, so how did I end up here? Did someone rescue me or something" He asked Irie, curious to who his rescuer is.

"Ah, or course" he replied. "She's outside, in the waiting room. She's been waiting for you to wake up." Huh, so it seemed that someone **was** able to find him and bring him here. props to them, he'll be sure to thank them, well, her to be exact. But who was 'her' exactly? Guess he'd find out if he'd go talk to her. Also how nice of them to wait for the damsel to wake and greet the knight in shining armour...some western saying or whatnot.

"Thanks, if you don't mind, I'd like to get up and see this 'rescuer' of mine." He joked.

"Oh course, I need to look through this information you've given me any ways." Irie replied, looking at his notepad. Keiichi nodded, heading out of the room. Irie sat there, all to himself and his thoughts. This didn't add up to him. A Yamainu employee, one of the people meant to be in secret on this job, going after Keiichi? At least, that's what it sounded like. If this was the case...what was **she** up to?

* * *

The waiting room seemed rather empty today, then again, there weren't people like him ending up here so often. The only two he usually see go here is Rika and Satoko, but other than that not much. There was however, only one other person in the room with him. It was a girl, of course, though she had a unique appearance to her. She's wearing a pink shirt with three, small, and thin black stripes that run down vertically and wears short, similar sleeves. She's also wearing a short, navy blue skirt with a light coloured checker board pattern on it. Her hair was also interesting. Her hair is a dull green colour, tied in two buns, while some of her hair can be seen sticking out, and her eyes are a brown colour. She looked about fifteen years old, close to Rena's age at least. To be honest, she was pretty cute as well.

She noticed him, getting up from the chair and going over to him, a look of thankfulness on her. "Thank goodness you're up. I thought you'd never wake up." She said in a kind voice. Jeez, even her voice was nice too...who the hell is this girl?

"Right, how long have you been waiting?" He asked her. "Actually, how long **have** I been out unconscious?" It would be nice to know how long it's been since today's incident. Hell, if its even still the same day at least.

"O-Oh, right." She fumbled a bit to answer him. "Well, it's been about two hours since." Two hours!? Jeez, Mion and the others are probably worried as all hell. After all, he did say he wouldn't be long. Look how that was going so far. But wait...this girl waited for him, for that long? He didn't even know her.

"You waited for that long?" He asked, surprised at her actions. She merely nodded, still smiling.

"Well it would have been rude to just dump you here without knowing who you are." Well that was fair, I mean it's not every day some stranger helps you out. "Besides, I don't even know who you are. You're new in Hinamizawa, right?" Ah, right, that too. Sometimes he forgets that he wasn't born here after all. Makes it better that she even wanted to save an outsider from this town. Technically he wasn't to him, but still. He guessed that introductions were finally in order.

"Ah, right." He started off brashly. "I'm Keiichi. Keiichi Maebara. And you are...?"

She raised her hand, forming a peace sign, and answered him simply, "Natsumi Kimiyoshi."

...Wait, what!?

**End Chapter 6**

**A/N. Wow, shocking right? Natsumi, a console arc/one-shot character being added to the story, along with a newly made-up antagonist. I had some mixed feelings for adding these two characters, but I wanted to show that I was going to be adding characters from other arc, and making my own characters to spice up the story. That and honestly, I feel like Natsumi deserved more attention, that and I just love her design and such 3**

**But either way, hope you enjoyed this action-packed chapter of surprises, and seeya in the next one.**


	7. Chapter 7, Unusual Ally

**_Higurashi: Passion Breaks Curse_**

**Chapter 7, Unusual Ally**

'Natsumi Kimiyoshi'

That was the name of the girl that had saved Keiichi this day from being mere inches from death, much quicker than previous worlds. That was the girl that Hanyuu had non-stop questions about. A completely unexpected phenomenon that has occurred in this world.

First, there was Keiichi. Albeit a strange and unknown occurrence, he was now able to not just communicate with her, but could be able to use her power, God's world, at his disposal. Truly, there was a large struck of luck on this point.

But then there was the stranger from earlier. The man dressed up in Yamainu clothing, who had been somewhat spying on the boy, had also beaten him up like a punching bag with ease. She had never in her existence, along with Rika, seen someone as ominous as that man, and she was to bet that they would see him again.

And now? Now there was Natsumi. Sure, she existed, but not all the time. She was a somewhat rare occurrence that happened after the Great Hinamizawa Disaster, and had nothing to do with the group of friends she resides amongst. In fact, she's never had contact with them at all, except for her childhood with Mion. But here she was, right here, right now, walking with Keiichi, speaking to him.

Truly, something was going on with this world. The dice had been rolled, and for some reason, that roll has been making somewhat big changes. Keiichi's luck, current events changing, new people appearing. It seemed as if for their last world, their last chance, their world was changing to a major extent. Possibly even bigger than they could imagine.

"So you live around here, right?" Keiichi asked the dull green-haired girl beside him.

"Of course. What gave it away? That I'm a Kimiyoshi?" She remarked sarcastically, winking at him with a cheeky smile.

He rolled his eyes, unamused. "Hahah, very funny. But seriously though, I don't think I've ever seen you here at all."

As Hanyuu listened in to their conversation, she thought about what he said for a bit. She remembered Natsumi being an antisocial person, in fact silent and refined to herself. Though she was definitely hard-working and diligent. It would probably explain why she hasn't tried to make friends. But here she was, being social, talking to Keiichi and acting so friendly towards him. True, she was somewhat shy and nervous at the start. But as he talked more with her, she gradually became more comfortable, which reasured Hanyuu.

Natsumi responded to the brunette, "Ah, that's because I live outside the village. I live in Okinomiya, usually working at the noodle shop." Well that explained it. So it was confirmed as well that she doesn't live with her family, along with the Kimiyoshi clan, though the reason why isn't known.

Currently, the two were walking to said city Okinomiya, Natsumi insisting on walking with him there so he can meet up with Mion and the others, so they weren't worrying about him. Even though he had been out for, oh I don't know, ages! So yes, they would be worrying right now. Though it was also because so Keiichi wasn't jumped at again by another thug from the shadows. He was somewhat cautious of her at the start, considering she **was **a random stranger. But soon after they had talked for a bit, he somewhat got used to her. For the most part, she was nice, charming, and just easy to get along with. Though a bit cheeky, she was someone he'd say was cool. Hell, if he got the chance, maybe he could get her to join the club...

Though that was the least he could think about. What he wanted to know was one thing: Why did she save him? He was just a random stranger, someone just getting a proper beating from a mysterious stranger. She could have just went another way and ignored it, letting it happen. But she didn't. She went out of her way to chase away the fiend, and helped him out when he was injured.

For now though, he'd enjoy more of the moment with talking to this new-found girl as they were walking. "That's neat." he said. "So what's with the hair?"

"Oh, this mess?" She asked, pointing to her hair, "I just like it that way, it's nice you know. Or do you not like it?"

"What? No. I actually really like it. It's unique. In fact I don't think I've seen many girls with hair like that." True, Keiichi hung out with his usual friends with their own unique hairstyles. Mion and Shion with their pale green hair, one tied back in a ponytail and the other with a yellow ribbon. Rena with her short brown hair. Satoko with her blonde hair. And Rika with her long blue hair in a hime cut. But for those five, you could probably see anywhere. Girls with short twin tails though? That was a delight for anyone. For now, he will control his eagerness to see her in the punishment outfits. For now.

Natsumi however, looked away, smiling slightly as his compliment. "Thanks." She replied to him. "I can't say the same for you though. Brown and short isn't really original you know"

He snapped around to her, stopping in his tracks "Hey! At least say a compliment back!" She pulled her tongue out at him teasingly. Hanyuu couldn't help but chuckle to herself, seeing the two like this was certainly fun. Though she thought of Natsumi to be an unknown for this world, she indeed was happy to see her, for once, interacting like this with him of all people. Something she just can't get tired of when he reacts that way. Just simply cute. And funny too.

* * *

They had arrived at the town, in front of the dessert glory known as 'Angel Mort'. A place where there were treats in both kinds. Food, and women. The food were mostly, as said, desserts. Cakes, chocolates and all sorts, made to be rich and delicious. Though that wasn't the only thing that attracted the customers here. The workers here were not just all women, but they all wore sexy maid outfits, which explained the amount of male customers they had (even if they were...questionable). The only reason he goes here with the girls is because of two reasons. Other than Shion works here, it was because it was one of their favourite places to hang out at, since they loved the treats here, and how Rena found almost everything here cute.

Natsumi however, gave a raised eyebrow at the place, her hands on her hips as she looked at the boy. "I see someone has a favourite place to look at women, other than his magazines." She remarked, with a smug smile.

"H-Hey! It's not like that! I have self control you know!" He exclaimed at the twin-haired girl. She giggled at his reaction, holding her hands up in front of her.

"It's fine, I'm joking. I go here a bit myself any ways." He gave her a slightly annoyed look, sighing has he went back to normal. In a way, he was used to this kind of stuff said to him, by guess who, the Sonozaki twins. "Well, I'll be off then."

"Huh? You're leaving already?" He asked, surprised

"Well yeah, I don't think I could deal with that many new people. Besides, I'm a stranger, right? You'll be fine now, no jumpers around here."

'Stranger'. She was indeed that. But even though she was, he didn't feel like she was any more. But that reminded him of what he wanted to ask the dull green-haired girl before she left.

"Well, seeya then." She waved at him, as she started to walk away from him. No, he couldn't let her just go like this. Not someone like her.

He clenched his fists, before letting them go, as he turned to her. "Hey uh, Natsumi."

She turned around, her full attention to him, "Yeah?"

He looked down for a moment, before looking back up to her, "Why did you save me back then?"

Her smile disappeared, replacing it with a more calm, neutral look on her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean" he sighed, "You could have left me, but you didn't. Instead, you went out of your way to help someone you didn't know. But why?"

She looked down at her hand, holding her wrist with the other. "Well, why not? You're one of us." Keiichi gasped slightly, his eyes widened a bit at her words. "It's our job to look out for each other, for everyone that lives in Hinamizawa. We're all like a big family, protecting each other." He was touched by her words, the fact that she said he was apart of this village, that he was...apart of their family. Almost like the club. Family.

She continued, "I'm not going to lie to you Keiichi, I'll admit I'm, well, not so social when it comes to people. In fact, when I was there, seeing you in distress, I was scared myself. I didn't know what to do. Hell, I even contemplated on leaving you there. But who would just leave someone to just die like that? Not me, that's for sure. And there's just, something about you that makes me feel calm, even happy. How social you are, and carefree, and funny too. You're a great guy is all I can say." She slightly smiled looking away.

Hanyuu understood now. This Natsumi was...somewhat different. Her courage, her sociability, her happy nature. It was the same as everyone else, the same reason they were somewhat the way they were. Because of him. Because of Keiichi. She remembered how they were without him, including the worlds where he never existed. Bored, hopeless, sad. They were like a candle without a spark of flame to light them up. That's when he comes in, when they find that happiness. True, they may tease him, dress him up in funny outfits and mock him sometimes. But they were, in a way, like sisters to him. Funny, kind, brave, silly, but most of all, they were there for him. Just like Natsumi was, right here, right now.

"Natsumi..." He said calmly. He walked up to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, getting her attention as she turned back to look at him. "...If you want to ask me out, you should just ask!" His serious tone shifted immediately into a comedic one, a goofy grin on his face.

Her eyes widened as her face went beet red, shutting her eyes as she flailed her hands. "N-N-N-N-No I d-d-didn't m-mean i-it l-l-like t-that!" She pounded his chest as he laughed hysterically at her embarrassment. "Keiichi you jerk! Iwasbeignseriousandeverythingandyoujustwentupandjustdidthistomeyou..." As she trailed off with her embarrassed bickering as he found enjoyment in his teasing, he couldn't help but think of how it reminded him of the others. Yep, she was going to fit in just fine.

Meanwhile behind him, Hanyuu looked at them dead-panned, completely unsurprised at the turn of events at this point. Keiichi was good at what he did sometimes. Almost too much for his own damn good.

He calmed down, wiping the tear from his eye. " Sorry about that, just testing you, heh."

She puffed her cheeks out in response, before stepping back, a deep sigh before she looked back at him with a smile. "Jeez, you're such an ass." They both laughed a little. "But seriously, is there anything else before I go?"

He thought to himself for a moment, placing a hand on his chin. Was this it? Did he just let her go and never see her again? Just 'goodbye' and that's it? No. Of course not. She was someone unique, someone who was irreplaceable. Someone who he saw had potential. It would just suck to never see her again, a person who was so far interesting in her own way. And if he wanted to save this place, this last 'world' that Hanyuu put it, then he was going to need help, And Natsumi Kimiyoshi, was someone to start off with.

He nodded, "Yeah actually. I was wondering if, you know, we could keep in contact. It would be nice to see you again sometime." She was silent for a moment, giving Keiichi a somewhat nervous feeling. "I, er, I mean I-If you want to! I-Im trying to force you or-"

He was immediately interrupted by her, holding his hand, with a pen in the other. She shook her head, smirking a bit at his somewhat stupidity as she began writing on his palm, making his face red. What was she doing? Wait, she's not...

She let go of his hand, putting her pen back into her pocket, as she she looked back up to him, her eyes half-lidded and smiling. "There's your 'contact'." She closed her eyes, giggling. "See you later." She went off, leaving him there dumbfounded. What on earth just happened? Hanyuu peered over him, a finger on her lip as she looked at the hand she was holding.

"What did she write?" She asked, eager to know herself. He raised his hand up, looking at his palm. Immediately, the both of their faces turned tomato red, with Keiichi a somewhat lighter shade. It was her phone number. This girl, _a_ girl, just gave him her phone number! Hanyuu was a sputtering mess, flailing around both frantically and somewhat happily. "Auauauauau! Keiichi! Finding love at such a young age! Au au au!"

His eyes widened, his face now much hotter than hers before, holding his hands up in defence. "Wait a second! It's not like that! I'm not even in to her! It's just her phone number, don't just assume stuff like that!" He was lucky that no one else was around at the moment, because if there were, then right now they would be looking at a raving maniac flailing maniac shouting at himself. A funny one at that.

But for now, the better news was one thing; Natsumi Kimiyoshi, rather she knows it now or not, is now apart of a life-saving crisis.

**End chapter 7**

**A/N. Hey guys, I know this is a short chapter, but it was sort of just filler for the story. I had to think of a way to write Natsumi's character, since I'm eager to write about/add her into this, so I gave her some writing time for this chapter. Hopefully you guys will love the addition of her in this.**


	8. Info Update

Hey guys, I just want to let you all know that i'm not dead in this update.

Pretty much, there have been things in rl thap have been happening that's caused me to not do much with this story, so apologies if you're enjoying Passion Breaks Curse and have been waiting for ages for another chapter.

I'm letting you know right now; I have NOT given up on this at all. I've just had a somewhat writer's block lately that has prevented me from doing much. That, and I don't really know if this story is doing well or not.I don't really know how else to get this story out there and such, considering Higurashi IS great, i just don't see much of the community, which sucks (though hopefully the new Higurashi project that's been announced on Twitter might bring in some more fans and such. and hopefully add Natsumi! :( ) So yeah, if you're able to help spread it out, then pls let me know or such, I'd really apreciate it if possible.

Lately, I've been looking through it and editing it out, such as adding more writing, fixing mistakes, etc. Idk when, but I will be adding a new chapter soon I assure you. I'll do my best. Besides, lately I've been having a drawing block, and it's been bringing me down for the past couple weeks. So I'm thinking that getting back into writing this would be a good idea.

I don't know if I'll delete this info + update, but I'll be leaving it here for a while till either I decide to remove it, or when the next chapter arrives. Also if possible, I'll have to do some concept for PBC if need be, since we have a new fighter in the mix!

Anywho, hope you all are doing well, and stay tuned for now.


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